Book cover of 'The Spy and the Traitor' by Ben Macintyre with a silhouette of a man walking.

The Spy and the Traitor: An incredible espionage and spy thriller and the greatest true story of the Cold War

£10.99

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On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket.

The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying.

Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever . . .

  • Publisher: ‎Penguin
  • Language: English
  • Paperback
  • 348 pages
  • ISBN-10:  0241972132
  • ISBN-13: ‎978-0241972137
  • Dimensions:‎ 19.8 x 2.4 x 13 cm

About the author

Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Colditz, Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times, and has worked as the newspaper's correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington. Several of his books have been made into films and television series, including Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends and SAS: Rogue Heroes.
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22/08/2025 - We are temporarily unable to ship to the USA however we are working hard to get this resolved as soon as we can. Please check back for updates.

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