The Spy and the Traitor

Oleg Gordievsky, an officer of the KGB, becomes disillusioned with the Soviet system and begins working secretly for MI6. As he rises through the intelligence service, his reports give Britain exceptional access to Soviet intentions, helping Western governments understand how dangerously Moscow interprets military exercises and political confrontation.

The betrayal of Western agents by Aldrich Ames places Gordievsky under suspicion in 1985 and brings him back to Moscow for interrogation. Macintyre reconstructs the escape plan known as Operation Pimlico, in which British officers smuggle him across the border. The account treats espionage as both strategic history and an ordeal of secrecy, family separation and personal nerve.