The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy

by Josh Ireland

For fans of Ben Macintyre, the gripping story of the assassination of Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky and the deadly game of cat and mouse that preceded it

On August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky invited a man he knew only as Jacques Mornard into his study. Mornard waited for Trotsky to sit, then smashed an ice pick he had hidden in his raincoat into his skull.
 
For over a decade, Trotsky’s greatest enemy, Joseph Stalin, had been trying to arrange his murder. His agents had hunted him across Europe and into a lonely, bitter exile in Mexico. He had liquidated Trotsky’s family and friends, and yet Trotsky had always escaped his clutches. The man who changed this all was Ramón Mercader, a minor Spanish aristocrat and Soviet agent who had posed as Mornard, a dissolute Belgian playboy, and infiltrated Trotsky’s inner circle. 

In The Death of Trotsky, Josh Ireland traces the separate paths walked by each of these protagonists as they steadily draw closer and closer to that fateful encounter on August 20. Blending intimate historical detail and thrilling historical narrative, swinging from Moscow to Paris to Mexico, and taking in a cast of morally conflicted Russian spies, fanatical Mexican painters, and innocent American idealists, The Death of Trotsky delves into the lives of two fascinating, complex men locked in a life-or-death struggle that will bend the course of history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia, Politics, World History, Audiobook, Russian History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 2026

Reviews

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Death of Trotsky is an in-depth overview of the murder of Leon Trotsky, an influential revolutionary whom Stalin pushed out and vilified as part of his quest to seize power (Lenin never named a successor).

Trotsky was granted asylum in Mexico until an NKVD agent got close enough to execute a plan to eliminate him.

There's a heck of a lot of story leading up to this assassination that the author had to contend with and, only being able to cover so much, I thought he gave enough information for the story to make sense, but not so much that an unfamiliar reader would become overwhelmed. Of course, knowing quite a bit about Soviet history, I found myself thinking, "there was A LOT more to that" on occasion, but that's to be expected.

If you're interested in this story, but don't know much about Soviet history, you can absolutely start here and expand outward. I think keyhole histories are a great place to start, actually. And if you liked this one and want more, consider The Last Days of Stalin.

[Kelsey Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way that Ireland paints this whole "plot to rid the world of Trotsky" was so well done. I really appreciated the quotes, sources, and backstories on these lesser known characters of history. We might all know about Trotsky- but who were in his circle? What was his life living in exhile? What were the lives of his children? His spouse? Who was it that killed him? How did they close?

I overall loved how human this book made all involved parties- all except well... Stalin haha. Ireland did a great job at making Stalin feel as distant but ever watching from the Kremlin.

I learned so much and really enjoyed this!

Thanks to NetGalley and to Dutton for my ARC!

Publishes 2.24.2026!

[charlotte, · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit tedious in the middle, and occasionally veered towards the fictional (entire perfectly recalled monologues, for instance) but a reasonably interesting read overall. oh and i found ireland's shockedness when reporting on the bolsheviks' espousing violence pretty amusing. fork found in kitchen etc.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spotted this title on Netgalley shortly after completing Victor Sebestyen's Lenin biography, and it immediately attracted me as a fitting sequel. Josh Ireland takes what to most of us is a one-line story (Trotsky is assassinated at close quarters in Mexico City with an ice ax, as part of an operation ordered by Stalin) and brings it vividly to life. He takes his time setting up the story with the assassination plot not really starting until the second half of the book. All of it is fascinating, and we get a real sense of what the NKVD (forerunner to the KGB) and the Stalinist terror were like. Oh yeah, Trotsky wasn't exactly a saint either, so if you are one of those readers who needs someone to root for this isn't for you. I did, however, feel considerable sympathy for the young American woman who was seduced by the assassin in order to get access to Trotsky.

This is for lovers of history and spy-thrillers alike. It manages to convey plenty of historical detail while remaining a page-turner throughout. Thanks to Netgalley and Dutton for providing me with a pre-release egalley.

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josh Ireland's The Death of Trotsky is a good, readable if not especially innovative recapitulation of Joseph Stalin's murder of his arch nemesis in 1940 Mexico. Ireland's narrative provides a thumbnail sketch of Trotksy's rivalry with Stalin, downfall and "wandering exile" through Europe and Mexico, fleeing Stalin's NKVD while trying to build up his rival "Fourth International" to rescue communism from his nemesis. The narrative is more focused, and interesting discussing the NKVD's assassination squads, which roamed Europe and the Americans hunting down tsarist emigres, dissidents and anyone associated with Trotsky, killing them through a variety of means. Eventually, the narrative centers on Trotsky's assassin, Ramon Mercader, a Spanish communist who (with his mother) followed Trotsky to Mexico City and infiltrated his inner circle before plunging an ice ax into the Old Bolshevik's skull. Unlike some depictions of Mercader as tormented by his mission, Ireland convincingly shows him as a remorseless fanatic, albeit one who seems under qualified for such a dangerous mission, constantly bumbling his plans until fate intervened. Trotsky's death, the author argues, occurred because of his incredible disregard for personal security. Despite having a coterie of armed guards, police protection and a swirl of loyal associates, losing several family members to Stalin's agents and surviving a previous attempt, Trotsky still regularly left his compound or, worse, allowed strangers like Mercader into his inner circle without vetting them. How else could a killer smuggle in a climbing implement under a trenchcoat in the middle of summer? Ireland's account lacks the rich, probing portraiture of earlier accounts like Isaac Deutscher and Bernard Patenaude, but succeeds as a fast-paced narrative of this most dramatic, and improbable political murder.

[Shahin Keusch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished The Death of Trotsky. I’d been meaning to read about Trotsky for a long time but never found a book that really grabbed me. Not until i saw this one. As soon as it was released i had to buy it.

It reads almost like a spy thriller. It's very fast-paced and just so entertaining. Of course I knew how the story would end, but I didn’t know much about everything leading up to it.

Highly recommended

[Don Siegrist · Rating 2 out of 5]

A frustrating book. Stalin's decades long obsession with Trotsky is one of the 20th century's more interesting tales but this book makes a mess of it. Way too many biographical details about obscure Soviet and Trotskyite functionaries who ultimately have nothing to do with Trotsky's murder. Then page after page of minutiae such as "he entered for half an hour, from 3:42pm to 4:12pm" or "he set off.. with three bags weighing 57 lbs". It reads like a boring surveillance report.

The author takes many liberties by surmising what people spoke of in supposedly secret meetings, what they were thinking and what their various motivations were. Often reads more like historical fiction.

The only real value to the book are the descriptions of the people involved, who all appear to have been suffering from various forms of mental illness. This includes Stalin, Trotsky, most of their close associates, their family members and the assassin's family. They're all either neurotic or psychotic, or both.

Bottom line: Trotsky surrounded himself with neurotic, incompetents while Stalin's psychotic thugs were just a little less incompetent. Advantage Stalin.

[Soscha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgive the comparison but this struck me like a Keystone Cops series or a long game of Spy vs Spy. Everyone trying to kill someone or avoid being killed by someone but hey, hey, that’s the Russian way of politics.

Can you try to govern without poisoning or defenestrating someone that doesn’t fall in with Putin & his oligarchs? Nobody is falling for your assassination games, guys. 😏

[Margaret Heller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed for Library Journal. My Goodreads rating isn't related to my professional review.

[Alain Bertaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant book! a story well told!

This book is telling a spell binding story backed by astonishing research! How brilliantly original people can be blinded by a fanatical obsession which mold and eventually destroy their life. This destructive obsession destroyed equally the life of Trotsky , Ramon, and Caridad Mercader. The strange USSR leadership habit to persecute and at time reward its most devoted servant was accessory discovery when reading this book!

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the last 100 pages. Very readable story.

[Nick Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent research into the inner workings and key personalities that made up Stalin's paranoid death cult, the NKVD. If you were working for this outfit, no matter how loyal, it was a matter of time before you were liquidated. Liquidation often included torture. To avoid the gruesome treatment in the Lubyanka building, operatives regularly committed suicide even at the hint they would be arrested. And think, it was your comrades conducting the forced confessions. The friend you'd worked with for 10 years since the revolution, you now had to torture and kill. A dark organization, that Soviet revolution.

"We wandered about in our little tropical garden in Coyoacán, surrounded by distant ghosts, each with a hole in his forehead." Nataliya Trotsky

As Leonid Eitingen said, "There is one small guaranteed way not to end up in jail under our system: don't be a Jew, or a general, in the state security service." Unfortunately for Eitingen, like many others, he was both.

Trotsky and Frida Kahlo in a saucy extramarital affair was a bright blot upon this gloomy scene. So was everything Diego Rivera.

But after that interlude, back to the steady plod towards death...

Astounding that Trotsky, his wife Nataliya, his guards, his closest friends, were unable to finger Trotsky's assassin. There were red flags, but no answers about the odd guest visiting Coyoacan were ever pursued.

Soon before his death, Trotsky even said, "I don't like him," to his wife. Through a combination of naivete, luck, absentmindness, Ramon or "Jack" continued as a visitor.

Trotsky was a cold blooded killer himself. Had he risen to power rather than Stalin, things may have been as bloody and awful. During the revolution Trotsky executed his chauffeur himself, point blank with a pistol, as punishment for his chauffeur's persistent tardiness. Trotsky was not a good man. And he couldn't have cared less for the people in his life. He was a mechanist for the cause, the system, the machine of historical evolution that he believed worked without respect or need for love. Love was superfluous. A bourgeois aesthetic. A hindrance to truth and progress. Despite all this, you feel sad as his assassination approaches. You want someone to stop it, for someone to discover the killer, for Trotsky to make it away, and continue to plague the hours of Russia's bureaucratic imp, Joseph Satan Stalin.

But no. Trotsky's impudence and faith in the laws of his invincible powers prove his downfall. He continually ignores concerns about this dude Etienne, his entire movement is warning, hey, this guy is a NKVD agent who's infiltrated the Paris 4th International, and Trotsky won't hear of it.

Trotsky's son Lev was a fool as well, poor guy, ended up dead (every one of Nataliya and Leon Trotsky's kids preceded them in death). Lev was warned repeatedly by the hardcore 4th International members about the newcomer Etienne, yet Lev waved away their concerns and continued to feature Etienne as his right hand man for the Paris organization.

Hats off to the NKVD planting this Catalan psychopath Ramon, Trotsky's eventual assassin, into Sylvia's life. What a stroke of spy mastery! The cutout, Sylvia's family "friend," who creates the happenstance introduction at a hotel bar in Paris...the way Ramon from there plays the role of the aloof, dashing, apolitical playboy to become her lover "husband," eventually using this connection to gain regular access to Trotsky's Coyoacan compound...incredible!! And spooky.

And poor Sylvia...you could pull anything over on her. She's either an agent herself, or blind in love, but definitely a fool. She goes to the Paris office where her lover Ramon works, finds the address doesn't exist, and...nothing. When she suspects he's not who he says he is, she "believed it was a personal matter, not something to bring up with Trotsky."

Sylvia later tells Trotsky she's concerned about her boyfriend's fake passport, and Leon himself says, 'you only need to be worried about the Federales, and the police, who take down everyone's ID that enters the home'...he's unwittingly covering for his own assassin.

It's incredible!! This all as everyone linked to the 4th International anywhere, including Trotsky's own son, is being liquidated by the NKVD. This all as Trotsky's security detail is doubling down on security systems, alarms, barricades, to defend against an attack. This aloofness continues even after a gang of marauders invade the Coyoacan compound and open fire into the bedrooms with automatic machine guns but fail to even wound anyone...

Ramon travels to NYC "on business" but visits no SWP party members while there. This is strange behavior for a 4th International enthusiast. It raises suspicion amongst everyone, but Trotsky poo poos it. Eh, he's lukewarm, he says, he needs to be recruited further to the ideals, he is what he is...

When Sylvia raises concern to Trotsky's close friend Cosmere about Ramon's mysterious employment, Cosmere says, maybe the reason Ramon is so shady about his job is because he's ashamed of it, maybe he's a guilt ridden war profiteer who doesn't want to fall in your esteem...

Everyone had suspicions about Ramon, but let him stay.

The essence of dialectical materialism is the bureaucratic hypocrisy, small minded paranoia, and bloodletting feuds for personal power that was the Soviet. Stalin and Trotsky were Marxist theory applied in real time.

Stalin was a recluse psychopath bureaucrat. Trotsky some cross between Nietzsche and one of the Beatles. The Russian revolution was a terrifying disaster on par with what Hitler and his buddies did on the other side of the Urals. Poor Eurasia!

[Caleb A. Gerber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only does a fight exist in our world between good and evil; a fight also exists between evil men and men who are even more evil. This book is the story of one such conflict. In The Death of Trotsky, author Josh Ireland showcases one of the most consequential fights in recent history. Each side claimed that progress was on its side; each side claimed to fight for the working man, for the proletariat, for the oppressed; and each claimed that the other was an enemy of progress, an enemy of the proletariat and of society itself.

In an exhilarating ride, Ireland lives up to the description of his book. It does, indeed, rival the works of Erik Larson and Ben Macintyre. Starting with the critical months following the death of the brutal Vladimir Lenin, Ireland narrates the struggle for control of the Soviet legislature and for control of the communist movement as a whole. Two men, both of whom had fought side by side during the bloody months of 1917, both of whom were fundamental pieces of the first successful Marxist revolution in world history, and both of whom claimed themselves, and not the other, to be the logical and only safe choice to succeed the deified Lenin.
Ultimately, the brutal Joseph Stalin would emerge the victor, leading to the exile and eventual assassination of his equally brutal opponent, Leon Trotsky. Ireland excels in telling the stories not only of these two men, but also of the others who were both the victors and the victims of the revolution that these two men had brought into being. The book follows the story of the Spaniard Ramon Mercader and his mother, who had fought alongside Soviet sympathizers in the Spanish Civil War and were then recruited by the NKVD to take part in the hunt for and death of the greatest foe to Stalin’s consolidation of power. It is a tale full of deceit, of double lives, of tragic ends; a tale of darkness and the worst kind of evil that can fill the human heart.
The book also follows the story of Marc “Etienne” Zborowski, who quickly rose through the ranks of Trotskyists in Paris, becoming the heir apparent following the death of Trotsky’s only surviving son, Lev (under suspicious circumstances), though he was on Stalin’s payroll. Finally, it follows the story of Leon Trotsky himself: exiled, knowing that Stalin’s agents would eventually catch up to him, yet unrepentant, perpetually convinced that he was the true force of revolution, the true arm of progress.
The book deals with some heavy topics. It is a book without hope, without redemption, without a theme other than despair, but it is a vital read to understand the heart of darkness, as Conrad termed it. Ireland does not conceal the evil behind either Stalin and his NKVD agents or the perversion of Trotsky and his Mexican allies Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The book spends considerable time discussing the critical years of Stalin’s purge, when everyone who had even been remotely connected to Trotsky was disposed of, and all those who had too clean a record—as in, they had no known connections to Trotsky—also faced the pistol for “security concerns.”
From Moscow to Paris, from Norway to the outskirts of Mexico City, Leon Trotsky was a hunted man, and he knew it. Yet on that warm day in 1940, it would be the choices of one man, and one man alone, that would determine the destiny of this communist leader. This is the story of choices, both good and bad. It is the story of ideas, bad and worse. It is the story of a murder: the murderer and the murdered.
Though the outcome of the story was certain from the beginning—the title is, of course, an obvious spoiler—this book was nonetheless spellbinding. The narrative was easy to follow, though, at times, the names were not; it was hard to keep track of all the communists and Trotskyists in the who’s who of double agents. It was easy to sympathize with the exiled Trotsky. It was also hard to determine the author’s personal political agenda; his sympathy for Trotsky does not altogether convince me that he is a Trotskyist, though he certainly does not spare additional verbiage regarding Stalin.
The ideological framework and differences of the two men are also hard to determine. At root, however, I think this is not as much the fault of the author as it is the fact that the two revolutionaries were extraordinarily close to each other in purpose and in outlook: an atheistic Marxist belief in Hegelian progress. This leads me to the conclusion that neither Stalin nor Trotsky was a friend of the common man; both were, ultimately, concerned only with their will to power, as Hitler in Germany, Tito in Yugoslavia, Mussolini in Italy, and Mao in China all were.
And it was this will for power that would lead to the demise of Leon Trotsky, abandoned by nearly all; killed in the most merciless way imaginable, alone, defenseless, long since exiled from his native land, in a Mexico City house, betrayed by one of his few remaining allies.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an advance copy of this book of history that details the efforts of one of the last centuries worst leaders to eliminate a man he considered his most mortal of enemies.

I remember the first time I came across the name Leon Trotsky, a moment that has stayed with me over the years. I was reading Richard Hoyt's Trotsky's Run, a book that I think was a comic thriller, like most of Hoyt's books. I was in high school, maybe, middle school, so this was a long time ago. The opening of the book dealt with the death of Trotsky, no real need for spoiler warnings, as this is known history, by an ice ax. I have no idea why this stayed with me, as the book I read it from has not. Yet it has. Something about a political assassination, something that was real and documented, but sounding like it was from a James Bond knock-off. I have read a few books about Trotsky since, both fictional and nonfictional. This book I think will also stay with me, for not only does the author cover the assassination, but the many other lives that were lost, based on the paranoia and hatred of one of the darker figures of 20th century history. The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy by Josh Ireland is a true crime story, a story of war in the shadows, of revolution, revolutionaries, and of course the murderous instincts of those in power.

The death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924 opened both a power vacuum and a powder keg in Russia, as different sides vied to lead the burgeoning USSR. Leon Trotsky, was smart, witty, gifted with an ability to speak, and to inspire. Joseph Stalin, was short, walked with a limp, ugly, mean, bitter, and yet had the gift of finding the secrets of those around him, secrets that let him control others. Added to this was a terrible paranoia, and a hatred of Leon Trotsky, who did his best to embarrass Stalin on numerous occasions. Trotsky lacked support and the ability to wine and dine others, which gave Stalin a chance to seize power. Soon Trotsky was losing respect, and losing friends, either through arrests, murders, or people ignoring him. Soon Trotsky was exiled, sent first to Europe then to Mexico, where he began to work on a biography of Stalin. Stalin set about plans to assassinate Trotsky, while also eliminating those close to Trotsky, including his family. And soon not even the far shores of Mexico were safe.

The book is both a biography of an assassination, and an examination of Communist politics in the twenties up to the forties. There were plots, plans, assassination attempts, and a lot of successful acts. Ireland does a very good job of telling the story, with its many diverse characters and locations, and never losing the reader. The research is quite good, with lots of details, all footnoted, with some new information. Ireland does a good job dispelling a lot of rumors, and getting right to the heart of the story, one that really does read like a thriller in many ways. Even if it sounds much to fictional. Ireland also does a good job of describing what like was like for the paranoid Stalin, seeing enemies and threats everywhere, and Trotsky, who knew that he was on Stalin's kill list, yet never took his security that seriously.

A very well written account that never lags, or gets bogged down. Ireland has written a very taut history, a bit of LeCarré amid the history. A very riveting accout, and one that will stay with me. I look forward to reading more by Josh Ireland.

[Curtis Edmonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn called it "The Big Solitaire," the idea being that all of the comrades who survived the October Revolution and who were not fully aligned with Stalin were, one by one, having their cards flipped over, slowly and remorselssly. And the single biggest card to be flipped was that of Leon Trotsky.

It is, I think, reasonably common knowledge where, when, and how Trotsky was assassinated (Mexico City, 1940, ice axe to the brain). Other than that, I don't think that I have given Trotsky much of a thought since I finished college, must less about his sad end. (I narrowly escaped having a degree in Soviet Studies in 1990, just as the Soviet Union was undergoing its death throes.) So I fell upon Josh Ireland's book with enthusiasm. THE DEATH OF TROTSKY is almost comparable to CASE CLOSED, one of my favorite books of all time, Gerald Posner's masterly dissection of the Kennedy assassination. The main point of differentiation is that there isn't much in the way of mystery related to Trotsky's death. (I almost said "conspiracy," but while there is no evidence pointing to Oswald conspiring with anyone, there is plenty of evidence, which Ireland elucidates, about Trotsky's assassin conspiring with Soviet intelligence.)

The other obvious point of comparison here is to THE DEATH OF STALIN, which of course was a broad comic farce. There are multiple comic moments in THE DEATH OF TROTSKY, but none of them are farcical--they result due to Ireland's bone-dry wit. At one point, a seemingly guileless young Polish student wanders into the orbit of Trotsky's son, who in turn comes to trust him implicitly. "He could not have been more wrong," Ireland observes, before turning to an analysis of just how badly this one agent had penetrated the European efforts of the Trotskyites.

Ireland specializes in just these sort of chewy historical nuggets. Why was Trotsky in Mexico in the first place? I had never given this a second's worth of thought, but Ireland has the answer: because Diego Rivera invited him, because of course he did. Did this result in Trotsky trying to shag Frida Kahlo? It did indeed, and Trotsky was successful.

The only drawback, I think, is that there is a comic-opera brilliance to THE DEATH OF TROTSKY that somehow manages to elide the fact that Trotsky was one of history's great monsters, eclipsed in his generation only by Stalin, and that if fate had decreed that Trotsky and not Stalin was running the show in the Thirties the world might look very different but still have been incredibly bloody. But Ireland has a fascinating story to tell, two heavyweight-class antagonists at the center, and a whole gaggle of Soviet functionaries and starry-eyed idealists, and one mysterious Spaniard at the center of it all who managed to fool everyone. Highly recommended.

[William de_Rham · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Death of Trotsky” is a very detailed and comprehensive examination of the 1940 assassination of Ivan Trotsky in Mexico City, ordered by Joseph Stalin. Author Josh Ireland researched extensively and employs clear, straightforward prose to impart to readers the who, what, where, when, and why of that murder.

When I began this history, my knowledge of the Russian Revolution, the birth of the Soviet Union, and the men who led it was not extensive. I came away from the work feeling that I’d learned a fair amount about:

1. The roles of Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin in creating the USSR;

2. Upon Lenin’s death, Stalin’s rise to power and his hatred of Trotsky, whose views on and vision for communism and how the USSR should be governed differed greatly from his;

3. The participation of various individuals in the Spanish Revolution;

4. Trotsky’s and his family’s exile in Europe and then Mexico where they stayed for a time with the artist Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo;

5. "The Terror” inflicted by Stalin on millions of Soviet citizens during the 1930s;

6. The role of the NKVD (forerunner to the KGB) in both “The Terror” and the plot to assassinate Trotsky;

7. The characters of Stalin and Trotsky;

8. The characters of various individuals charged with killing Trotsky;

9. A failed attempt to kill Trotsky involving a full-fledged assault on his Mexico City compound; and

10. A detailed description of how Soviet agent Ramón Mercader over a period of months ingratiated himself with Trotsky and his family and then killed Trotsky with an ice axe as they met in Trotsky’s home office.

For me, the book’s greatest strength—it’s attention to detail—is also, at times, a weakness. In some instances—such as the attempts on Trotsky’s life and Stalin’s interactions with various henchmen—it makes for riveting reading. But often, the book seemed to go down diffuse pathways filled with minutia, as well as many-too-many names, leaving me confused and wondering: why am I reading this? Ink devoted to some of that material might have been better spent more thoroughly describing Trotsky’s and Stalin’s conflicting views on communism, Soviet governance, and the USSR’s role in world affairs. In other words, I wanted to know more about why Stalin hated Trotsky so much that he ordered his assassination.

Otherwise, I thought this was a well-researched, well-written history highly suitable for the libraries of those interested in Soviet history, the history of communism, or Ivan Trotsky and Joseph Stalin and the conflict between them.

My thanks to NetGalley, author Josh Ireland, and publisher PENGUIN GROUP Dutton | Dutton for providing me with a complimentary ARC. All of the foregoing is my honest, independent opinion.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Death of Trotsky by Josh Ireland offers a detailed look at the history of the conflict between Trotsky and Stalin as well the lengths to which Stalin went to exact revenge on anyone he felt even remotely wasn't loyal to him personally.

The parts that are primarily laying out the facts read very well, making connections and showing what was or might have been causal for various acts. I think where this book excels is in the parts where we get recreations of what happened (based on research and contemporary accounts). These offer the best of both nonfiction writing and thriller/suspense fiction writing. History is a narrative, or narratives, so being able to tell a good story is as vital as simply writing out the facts and assumptions.

Some who are heavily influenced by the West's Cold War rhetoric about socialism in general will mistakenly make it sound like there would have been little difference between the bloodshed Stalin caused and the bloodshed that would have occurred had Trotsky been the leader. Ignore that extreme just as quickly as you ignore the one that claims everything would have been rosy under Trotsky. The big difference is that Stalin didn't simply consider himself superior to those around him (in the way any insecure person feels such superiority, like Trump for instance) but he didn't care about human beings or human life, by his own words. Trotsky wouldn't have shied away from violence while the revolution was in progress (plenty of evidence of that) but there isn't a significant reason to believe that once in power he would have taken every comment and every disagreement as a crime punishable by death. So there is more than just a minor difference in how the rest of the 20th century would have played out had Trotsky taken over from Lenin.

One thing we can certainly take away from this is what happens when a weak-minded but strong-willed person gains power. They use it for their own ends, will unhesitatingly trample those who dare to question or oppose him, and will do things like use the military to fight their battles and eliminate, throw whatever means they can, everyone different from what they want. There are leaders today who fit this mold, both in small countries and in major powers. They must be stopped before there are more reigns of terror.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Jeff Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially picked up “The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin’s Greatest Enemy” because it covered a historical event I knew nothing about: Leon Trotsky getting his ass smoked in Mexico.

Upon reading it, though, I was pleased that not only was it a good telling of the titular incident, it also contained something deeper: an indictment of the biggest infatuation with communism history has ever seen.

Whether intentionally or un-, Josh Ireland’s TDoT captures a time when otherwise intelligent people were swept up in a craze that promised nothing short of a new reality. People the world over embraced the movement’s promises so much they eagerly gave up their freedoms, their families, and, in some cases, their lives.

But, we know how it ends (they should’ve too, IMO): regret… Consider these examples from the book:

A) An aged Trotsky, exiled half a world away from his beloved homeland, bemoaning the Soviet Union had become little more than a violent, “privileged bureaucracy.”

B) His assassin, many years later, reluctantly admitting he and his brethren were “deceived.”

C) And perhaps most striking, the assassin’s mother: a woman that passionately gave her life and family to the cause, only to wind up an embittered wench who—upon actually living in the U.S.S.R.—ranted that the “paradise” they were promised was really a hell-on-earth.

So again, not only is “The Death of Trotsky” an entertaining 20th-Century history, but its take on the dark side of idealism puts it alongside such acidic works as “The White Pill” (2022) and “The Way Back” (film, 2010).

Yes, the true-believers thought the movement would rebirth humanity itself. It only took their lifetimes to realize they were had.

P.S.
After reading “The Death of Trotsky” I watched the 1972 film “The Assassination of Trotsky,” in which Richard Burton portrays him. Despite that novelty, TAoT is acknowledged as one of the worst movies ever made. Having seen it, I don’t disagree.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the start of the second world war, Stalin finally achieve his goal of killing his former chief rival. Josh Ireland's spy thriller-esque history traces the multi year and globe spanning efforts to isolate and kill Trotsky in The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy.

History as tragedy, from the title we know the outcome, but the narrative truly engages with a focus on the 10 year period where Trotsky was hunted across Europe (Turkey, France and Norway) before finding some safety in Mexico. There are a wide number of figures involved, those supporting Stalin and those supporting Trotsky. Slowly and methodically, Trotsky's supporters were killed, turned or otherwise suborned. Ireland was able to draw from a wide range of other accounts, making the best of them as his account is well paced and biographies the key figures. Global events are also tied in, giving a clearer understanding of the political priorities and how the different figures were motivated or allied.

As expected, much of the narrative is centered on Trotsky with others filled in as necessary, such as Stalin. Trotsky was powerful, but flawed. He was a key figure in building the red army and led the delegation to end ww1 in Eastern Europe. In a Communist party centered on the common man, Trotsky did not suffer fools and had no mind for the games of intrigue. When Lenin died, he found himself outmaneuvered and expelled from the party. He then was a factor is the harsh and blood purges, often the reason for those in power to execute or arrest dissenters or others unwanted.

Recommended to readers of true crime, espionage or global history.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Kolt A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tale of mystery, infiltration, and ultimately, assassination of a revolutionary figure cast out of the workers paradise, written with the flourish of a novel, describes the vast casting of characters that all converged to achieve the ultimate goal of Stalin, the liquidation of his most vilified enemy, Leon Trotsky.

Trotsky made the grave mistake of questioning Stalin’s motives during the foundation of the Soviet system and his leadership during the 17th party congress in 1934, referring to him as the “gravedigger of the revolution.” This in of itself, wasn’t worthy of warranting execution, had it not been spoken publicly, followed by written belittling and abuses directed towards Stalin.

His fears of inadequacy due to his upbringing and nationality, led to reprisals against members of Trotsky’s family, those in alliance with Trotsky’s thoughts and views and anyone associated with him.

For the next six years, as Stalin’s paranoia increased and his vengeance to eliminate Trotsky grew, thousands were purged in the revolutionary “Old Guard” Bolshevik class, Trotsky’s family were purged and Trotsky himself had his party membership and his citizenship revoked. He became a pariah and was forced to travel from nation to nation to avoid NKVD (Soviet secret police) until ultimately he met his end at the hands of a sole assassin.

[MICHEAL DOANE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josh Ireland’s The Death of Trotsky is a disciplined work of narrative history that reconstructs Trotsky’s assassination as a structured, long-term political operation rather than an isolated act of violence. The book is effective because it treats Stalin’s pursuit not as background context, but as an evolving system of pressure, surveillance, and ideological elimination.

The narrative strength lies in its convergence structure, Trotsky’s exile across Europe and Mexico is deliberately mirrored against the operational persistence of Soviet intelligence. This dual perspective builds inevitability into the story, turning historical distance into escalating tension without sacrificing factual clarity.

Ireland’s handling of Ramón Mercader’s infiltration is particularly strong, not for dramatization, but for restraint. The assassination is presented as the endpoint of layered identity construction and political conditioning. The result is a controlled, precise narrative that frames Trotsky’s death as the final executable outcome of a sustained geopolitical mechanism.

[FT · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book, the author tries to force this into being more of a novel instead of nonfiction. Not sure why nonfiction authors try to do this. These are real people--we don't need a dramatically told backstory for the "characters." Stating the facts, in a clear, well-written way is often more effective.

That being said...

The second-half of the book is truly a page-turner. Really, from the time Trotsky's son dies onward. And it's not told in a melodramatic fashion. What actually happened is compelling enough and the author doesn't get in his own way of effectively telling this story.

One small complaint: the author (willingly or not) seems to paint Trotsky as a sympathetic figure. While he may have been more humane compared to Stalin as the Soviet leader, if he had reached that position, I don't know how different the history of the USSR would have been. Probably no purges. But no gulags? No Cheka/KGB? I don't know about that.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Josh Ireland, Penguin Group Dutton, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Trotsky is a very interesting person in history. An alternative and rival to Stalin, he was seen by many as a better choice and a voice for the ideals advocated by Lenin. This well researched book provides the background for the Stalin / Trotsky rivalry and the ruthlessness taken by Stalin to eliminate not only Trotsky, but anyone not deemed sufficiently loyal to him.

Well written and deeply researched, this is a fascinating story. Trotsky and members of his family are ultimately tragically betrayed by those close to them, even though the warning signs were clear. An interesting account of Russian history and the death of a world leader. Recommended.

[Cami l · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ireland's deep dive into the complex web of infiltration/betrayals that took place leading up to the death of Trotsky was a compelling read, but not one for amateurs. The storyline isn't exactly linear, and there is a lot of emphasis placed on the backstories of certain side characters that muddled the central plot. As other readers have mentioned, Trotsky's death isn't exactly the most obscure event in history (and there are multiple other books covering it) but none weave in as many narratives/ color in as much detail as to the motivations behind the actions of each of the key players in the story. The book is heavily character-driven and a wildly entertaining read that doesn't shy away from exposing some of the more inglorious sides to well-known figures- like, was this how I had to find out that Trotsky was cucking Diego Rivera? And that he was an a-hole father to his son??

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josh Ireland has taken what was already a mysterious and spellbinding story about the assassination of Leon Trotsky, and has turned it into a page-turning work of nonfiction that reads as good as any spy thriller of the past decade. There were moments in my reading where I genuinely forgot that this was a historical narrative rather than an old-fashioned cat-and-mouse story. I don't often describe books as "cinematic," but this one merits the moniker! Once one gets past how well-written and paced the book is, it also sheds new light on the tragic final years of Trotsky and how it influences his political thought, and does so in a way that is accessible for both experts in Soviet history and newcomers alike.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC; I have received no other compensation from the publisher or author in exchange for this review.

[Naeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like books by Ben Macintyre, then you will also like this one. It is a very compelling read that helped me understand the real dangers of assassination by spy agencies. Along the way we learn much about Trotsky, Freda Khalo, Diego Rivera, and a cast of lesser but important characters.

Whereas Macintyre somehow let you inside every character, no matter their politics, Ireland lacks this skill. Stalin gets only dark colors, Trotsky, Khalo and Rivera are portrayed as eccentric but without a sense of what really makes them tick as humans.

I think this is due to Ireland's inability to hide his politics. I sensed that all these people seemed mad or wrong to Ireland. Or maybe Macintyre is just far more skilled in the art of writing.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars! Thank you to Dutton for the ARC of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions in this review are my own.

The Death of Trotsky is an in-depth look at the political rivalry between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Two historical figures I know a bit about, but I was not as familiar with their deep connection & story. So, the premise of this book really intrigued me! While learning about Stalin & Trotsky you also get a look at the political landscape in Russia.

I suggest this book if you're interested in learning about this time period & political figures in Russia. This is a very well researched book!

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very (almost excruciatingly) detailed account of the assassination of Leon Trotsky and the people and events leading up to it. Trotsky's name has always been familiar to me, but this isn't a chapter of Russian history that I knew a lot about. This book was great for filling in those blanks in my knowledge, while also telling an intriguing true crime story. It started to lose me a bit in the middle, when a lot of detail was offered about things that didn't seem worth the intense focus in the long run, but the chapter describing Trotsky's murder was brilliant.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched duo-biography of a victim and his murderer. I had a little difficulty getting interested in the narrative because there is such a broad cast of characters, and aliases that it was tough going at first. But once author Ireland got to the heart of the matter everything jelled for me. And by the time I neared the denouement I found I very much like Leon Trotsky as a human being. Of course over it all hovers the distinctly paranoid vision of Joseph Stalin. I'd like to part by noting that Stalin's paranoia reflects itself in our current White House resident. The difference being, of the two Stalin was competent.

[Jim Bogue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ramon Mercedes, the man who murdered Leon Trotsky, never seems to have regretted his deeds (which included not only the murder itself but also the seduction of a loyal female follower of Trotsky. Ireland presents a somewhat surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a loyal if not real bright believer.
This is a detailed account of the killing, covering both the doomed former Soviet rockstar and his committed assassin. It is presented almost as a novel, with all sides’ viewpoints covered.
If you like a lot of details and a colorful cast this book will provide.