A Spy Among Friends

This is a non-fiction book but it reads like a novel and explores one of the great mysteries of the spy world: how on earth did Kim Philby manage to betray not only his country but also his friends over so many years? 

A former spy I had the privilege of interviewing described Philby as a shit, so maybe there’s the answer. I think this is a terrific read, and although Macintyre probably isn’t a spy, like Deighton, he knows them. 

It might seem odd to include a nonfiction book among the best action-adventures, but Ben Macintyre is a master of the genre, weaving brilliant true stories as if they were outlandish spy fiction.

This book deals with the friendship of notorious double agent Kim Philby and his friendship with Nicholas Elliott, from their early recruitment into the intelligence services through to–and beyond–Philby’s defection to Moscow. And it reads with all the pace and thrills of the best spy novelist.

If you are looking for a suspenseful non-fiction book on British history that reads like a novel and you won’t want to put down, this is the book for you.

I knew the basic outlines of the story of Kim Philby, a double agent inside Britain’s MI6 secret service spying on behalf of the Soviets. It turns out there is so much more to the story, told in a fascinating way by well-regarded author Macintyre in a book that would defy belief if the author had made up the details of Philby’s story for a novel.

This book will lead… show more.

This is the best book written about the brilliant, charming, ruthless Kim Philby, the most successful spy Russia ever had in Britain. It is sympathetic but clear-eyed. It is exhaustively researched, but reads like a novel. You will be swept away, but also you may be certain it is true. Philby became a Communist spy for idealistic reasons. Eventually, however, he betrayed not only his country but even his friends. When, at last, they figured him out, he escaped to Russia and lived there as a hero to an old age. He had everything except a heart. 

This is a book principally about Kim Philby, the once head of Britain's counterintelligence against the Soviet Union who was exposed as a double agent. There's a lot about this master spy’s activities in the Lebanese capital in the lead-up to his defection to Moscow from there in January of 1963. In 1960 Philby made a tour of the Middle East to write some articles, including stopping in Kuwait which inspired some of the action in my own book. I love any work by Ben Macintyre but this book appealed to me especially. It’s got some great photos in it… show more.

A nonfiction selection. It’s an extraordinary book telling an extraordinary true tale. I found it a page-turner; Macintyre’s storytelling ability makes the book read like a classic spy thriller. It’s dramatic and insightful and cruelly entertaining, considering Kim Philby was perhaps one of the most successful Soviet spies working in the west and responsible for countless foiled MI6 and CIA missions and the deaths of hundreds of pro-western agents. Macintyre has an enviable ability to craft engaging and compelling stories with wit, charm, and panache about people who exuded wit, charm, and panache with a dangerous sideline in betrayal. The… show more.

Times journalist and author Ben Macintyre almost single-handedly resurrected the genre of espionage non-fiction. His account of the life and crimes and Kim Philby – the MI6 officer who became the most notorious Cold War defector to the Soviet Union – is a tautly-written and often jaw-dropping account of how one of Britain’s most senior and privileged spies betrayed his friends, colleagues and the most vital secrets of both Britain and the United States.  

I’ve been obsessed with Kim Philby for years. Philby was an intelligence officer with MI6 - and also a double agent with the KGB, passing highly classified information to the Russians. How did he do it? Why did he do it? And how did he get away with it for decades? Macintyre's biography explains it all.

No British spy did more damage to the West than Kim Philby, a high-ranking MI6 official who spied for the USSR from the 1930s until his defection in 1963.  Macintyre captures his many betrayals- of his family, friends, and country, demonstrates how he was able to deceive so many people for so many years, and evaluates the damage he did and the lives he ruined.

There is no better spy yarn than the story of Kim Philby—the Cambridge-educated senior British intelligence official who for decades betrayed his colleagues by running a spy ring that stole reams of sensitive secrets for the Soviet Union. The ability of Philby to hoodwink British and U.S. counter-intelligence sleuths is amazing and Macintyre tells the story brilliantly. My favorite is his accounts of Philby’s booze-filled lunches with James Jesus Angleton of the CIA in which America’s premier mole hunter divulged all sorts of classified secrets to his British counterpart, resulting in anti-Communist guerillas being rolled up by the Soviets throughout… show more.