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Jan 09, 2020THX11388 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
If you were looking for a James Bond/007 movie script wannabe, this is not it. If you understand the paranoid Cold War mentality this book depicts, the story becomes more pertinent. Uncertainty, moral ambiguity, and betrayal: The book is loosely based on the real life story of Kim Philby, a Brit double agent who spied for USSR for nearly 30 years. An estimated 25 major missions were blown by Philby due to the passage of information to his Russian handlers, and numerous men killed. Philby was a close associate of Nicholas Elliot and James Angleton, the latter being the head of the CIA counterintelligence until the mid-1970s. Angleton spent years at the CIA hunting for moles like Philby. The Secret Service of these countries were riddled with double agents. Reference for this information is “A Spy Among Friends” by McIntyre. The meandering plot of the first third of the story only adds to the entertainment, while the background of English class distinction, delusions of world domination and alcohol excess contribute to the malaise. Additional commentary on the insanity of that era can be found in The Honorable Schoolboy, set in the last days of Nixon. If you need a visual version, the BBC miniseries with Alec Guinness is far superior to the movie with Gary Oldman.