While looking for new books I stumbled across this title. I had recently read a few books about spies, so decided to give this one a go.

This book covers a vast amount of time, thereby making it a great introductory book into the world of intelligence between the Soviet Union and the United States and Great Britain primarily.

The book can only provide an overview of the stories involved. If there is a particular spy story that catches your interest you can always find a detailed book about that event. For example Walton makes reference to the defection of Oleg Gordievsky including how one of the women assisting in the escape changed her baby’s diaper on the trunk of the car to prevent the border control dogs from discovering Gordievsky in the trunk. Ben Macintyre outlines Gordievsky’s life and escape in The Spy and the Traitor (which I highly recommend).

The last chapter of the book pivoted away from Russia and focused on China. Perhaps if Walton had spent more time on China earlier in the book this transition could have been better. As it was it didn’t seem to fit into the context of the book.

Overall I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars if the last chapter had been excluded or had been introduced throughout the book. Since it was not I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.