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Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of The Spy and the Traitor comes the ultimate true-life Cold War a “page-turning masterpiece” (The Guardian) about a Russian double agent with a desperate secret—and the key to stopping a nuclear apocalypse.
“Ben Macintyre has a rare ability to turn history and espionage upside down and give us true, colorful stories that astound us as they draw us in. Redwood might be his best.”—John Grisham
In 1981, KGB Major Vladimir Kuzichkin, codenamed “Redwood,” was the best Soviet officer in Iran, running spies in the wake of the Islamic revolution and working with a hidden network of Iranian communists to undermine the new regime. But Kuzichkin had a problem, a sexual secret that, if revealed, would humiliate him with his colleagues, cost him his job, and send him into exile. Desperate for a solution, he reached out to the only place he believed could Britain’s MI6.
So begins one of the most astounding true spy stories of the Cold War, set against the terrifying prospect of nuclear armageddon. Taking readers through shadowy back alleys of Tehran, across bloody streets and into cloistered intelligence offices, Ben Macintyre unfolds a world in turmoil, where no one’s motive is what it seems, and exposure means death. As Kuzichkin helps the Soviet leadership plot an overthrow of the Ayatollah’s fledgling regime—and the American government secretly contemplates a nuclear response if they do—it falls on MI6’s resourceful young undercover officer Ian McCredie to spirit Kuzichkin’s vital information back to the West. But when both Iranian intelligence and the KGB close in on the Russian double-agent, McCredie must design an improbable high-stakes escape plan for Kuzichkin, in which failure is almost certain and the direction of the Cold War hangs in the balance.
This is the gripping tale of one man’s courage, and its extraordinary unintended consequences that still shape our world today. It’s about a moving friendship between spies on opposite sides of the global conflict; about marriage, loyalty, and betrayal. Drawing on never-before-seen archival material and revealing interviews with the participants, Redwood plunges readers back into the world of The Spy and the Traitor, where the fate of millions turns on the split-second decisions of spies under pressure.
“Ben Macintyre has a rare ability to turn history and espionage upside down and give us true, colorful stories that astound us as they draw us in. Redwood might be his best.”—John Grisham
In 1981, KGB Major Vladimir Kuzichkin, codenamed “Redwood,” was the best Soviet officer in Iran, running spies in the wake of the Islamic revolution and working with a hidden network of Iranian communists to undermine the new regime. But Kuzichkin had a problem, a sexual secret that, if revealed, would humiliate him with his colleagues, cost him his job, and send him into exile. Desperate for a solution, he reached out to the only place he believed could Britain’s MI6.
So begins one of the most astounding true spy stories of the Cold War, set against the terrifying prospect of nuclear armageddon. Taking readers through shadowy back alleys of Tehran, across bloody streets and into cloistered intelligence offices, Ben Macintyre unfolds a world in turmoil, where no one’s motive is what it seems, and exposure means death. As Kuzichkin helps the Soviet leadership plot an overthrow of the Ayatollah’s fledgling regime—and the American government secretly contemplates a nuclear response if they do—it falls on MI6’s resourceful young undercover officer Ian McCredie to spirit Kuzichkin’s vital information back to the West. But when both Iranian intelligence and the KGB close in on the Russian double-agent, McCredie must design an improbable high-stakes escape plan for Kuzichkin, in which failure is almost certain and the direction of the Cold War hangs in the balance.
This is the gripping tale of one man’s courage, and its extraordinary unintended consequences that still shape our world today. It’s about a moving friendship between spies on opposite sides of the global conflict; about marriage, loyalty, and betrayal. Drawing on never-before-seen archival material and revealing interviews with the participants, Redwood plunges readers back into the world of The Spy and the Traitor, where the fate of millions turns on the split-second decisions of spies under pressure.
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First published September 15, 2026
About the author
Ben Macintyre
40 books4,680 followersBen Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and presented BBC documentaries of his work.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Quite simply, if Ben Macintyre's name is on the book, I am going to love it. Redwood is no different. In telling the story of a KGB agent who decides to switch sides, Macintyre has once again found a tale that is not well-known, but has such far-reaching effects that I am thoroughly confused how I didn't hear about this before. Redwood is no ordinary spy. He was well placed in the KGB to have mountains of intelligence which could change the tide in post-revolution Iran.
What I love about Macintyre's books is that he knows full well that the human story is always the most important part of the narrative. However, you still need to build out the world around him. You can't understand the pressure Redwood is under unless you know what his defection would mean. I have read plenty of books that promise little-known stories where the main character "changed the world." When it comes to Redwood, this is not hyperbole.
Macintyre has to thread the needle of making you care about Redwood while also understanding the complexity of post-Revolution Iran. I can't even begin to explain how bewildering this time and place in history was. You have the supporters of the exiled shah, the ayatollah (who at this point was trying to pretend he wasn't a total despot), the communists, and then everyone else. The U.S. is no longer in country, but the U.K. is and it becomes important how they are able to be there. I haven't even scratched the surface, but luckily I didn't write this book.
Special attention should be paid to the fact that Macintyre is hilarious. There are small asides now and again with winking commentary to relieve the pressure of everything else going on. It adds another touch of humanity to recognize the humor in even the darkest times of humanity. This story could not have been told better.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by Crown Publishing.)
What I love about Macintyre's books is that he knows full well that the human story is always the most important part of the narrative. However, you still need to build out the world around him. You can't understand the pressure Redwood is under unless you know what his defection would mean. I have read plenty of books that promise little-known stories where the main character "changed the world." When it comes to Redwood, this is not hyperbole.
Macintyre has to thread the needle of making you care about Redwood while also understanding the complexity of post-Revolution Iran. I can't even begin to explain how bewildering this time and place in history was. You have the supporters of the exiled shah, the ayatollah (who at this point was trying to pretend he wasn't a total despot), the communists, and then everyone else. The U.S. is no longer in country, but the U.K. is and it becomes important how they are able to be there. I haven't even scratched the surface, but luckily I didn't write this book.
Special attention should be paid to the fact that Macintyre is hilarious. There are small asides now and again with winking commentary to relieve the pressure of everything else going on. It adds another touch of humanity to recognize the humor in even the darkest times of humanity. This story could not have been told better.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by Crown Publishing.)
September 21, 2026
Ben Macintyre has spent two decades turning intelligence files into page-turners, and he usually starts with a spy the public half knows. Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre starts with one almost nobody remembers. Vladimir Kuzichkin was a KGB major working under diplomatic cover in Tehran, and in 1981, in the middle of the Islamic Revolution's most paranoid years, he walked into the British mission and offered to betray everything he knew. The book is about why he did it, how one young MI6 officer kept him alive, and what the West did with his secrets afterwards.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War, in Brief
Kuzichkin belonged to Directorate S, the arm of the KGB that ran "illegals", Soviet agents living abroad under false identities. He arrived in Tehran in 1977 with his wife Galina, watched the Shah fall, and spent the next four years inside a Soviet station that was corrupt, drunk and increasingly busy with a dangerous project: backing Iran's communist party, the Tudeh, as it quietly placed its people inside the new Islamic state.
The man he chose to trust was Ian McCredie, the only MI6 officer left in Tehran after the revolution, working under commercial cover in a skeleton British mission. Their meetings took place in a bathroom in the embassy compound with the taps running to defeat the bugs. MI6 gave the source a codename, REDWOOD, and a tall tree was only one of its meanings.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre follows the operation from that first approach to a hair-raising exit overland into Turkey, then keeps going, into the years when his information reached people who were never meant to have it.
How Macintyre Builds the Book
The structure is a slow fuse. Macintyre spends a long opening stretch on Kuzichkin's hard Moscow childhood, McCredie's apprenticeship, and the chaos of Tehran from the fall of the Shah to the American hostage crisis. It pays off. By the time the two men meet, you understand why a KGB officer might loathe his own service and why a British spy might risk his career on a stranger.
Then the book accelerates. The middle chapters are Macintyre at his best: dead drops, a miniature camera, a cipher machine older than most of the staff, the constant risk of Iranian surveillance and Soviet suspicion. McCredie's cooperation, and interviews with most of the MI6 officers involved, give these scenes a close texture that his earlier books sometimes had to reconstruct from paper alone. He is candid that MI6 did not authorize or vet the book and that its files remain closed.
What Works
The pairing. Kuzichkin and McCredie are an odd couple worth a novel of their own: the moody, funny, tarot-reading Russian and the careful Englishman who became his closest friend.
The motive. Macintyre is frank that part of what pushed Kuzichkin was private, a case of impotence he believed Western medicine could cure, and handles it without smirking.
The comedy. A walk-in who mistakes a diplomat for the head of MI6, iron tablets sent by MI6's chief doctor as a hopeful placebo, a codename with an accidental pun. The tone stays light until it cannot.
The scope. In Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre, one man's defection touches Afghanistan, a Canadian police mole, a Swiss spy trial and the future of Iran.
The Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy?
The subtitle makes a big claim, and the book mostly earns it, though not in the way you expect. Kuzichkin's value was less about stolen documents than what he knew about Soviet plans in Iran: the KGB's hopes for the Tudeh, and the party's people inside the armed forces, including the commander of the navy.
What makes Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre more than a caper is its portrait of the man. Kuzichkin is brave, vain, self-pitying and warm by turns, a KGB believer turned bitter enemy who never stops missing home. The book's final section follows him into a new name and a new trade in England, and those pages are among the saddest Macintyre has written.
The Untold Story Behind the Cold War's Most Uncomfortable Bargain
Here is where the book turns. Months after the defection, British and American intelligence shared the substance of Kuzichkin's material with the Ayatollah's government, in a meeting brokered by Pakistan. The Islamic Republic used it to destroy the Tudeh. Party leaders were tortured into televised confessions, Soviet diplomats were expelled, and thousands of Iranian leftists were arrested, and many later killed. For more on the party itself, the Tudeh Party's history is a useful primer.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre refuses to settle the argument. A Soviet-backed coup may have been prevented. A brutal theocracy was also strengthened. Macintyre lays out both and leaves the discomfort with the reader.
Where It Falls Short
The long run-up. The revolution and hostage chapters are well done but familiar, and the spy is slow to arrive.
The British angle dominates. With McCredie as the main living source, the Iranian victims appear mainly as consequences, although a Tudeh prisoner's testimony is harrowing.
The counterfactuals. A late passage on how history might have gone differently feels like a flourish too many.
Read It If / Skip It If
Pick up Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre if you loved The Spy and the Traitor, want a spy story with moral weight, or are curious about how Iran's revolution looked from inside its foreign embassies. Skip it if you want a tight thriller pace from page one, or a history told mainly from Iranian sources.
Content Notes
Content notes: descriptions of torture and forced confessions, executions and mass political killings, childhood domestic violence, alcoholism, suicide, the savage beating of a CIA officer, and frank discussion of sexual dysfunction.
Worth Your Shelf
The image I keep returning to is the bathroom: two men from rival empires crouched beside a running tap, trading secrets and jokes while revolutionary Tehran rages outside. Macintyre builds an entire moral history out of that small room, and then shows how far its consequences travelled.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre is slow to start and more British in its sympathies than the story strictly deserves. But it is absorbing, humane and brave enough to admit that a great intelligence success can also be a catastrophe. Four and a half stars, and Macintyre's strongest book in years.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War, in Brief
Kuzichkin belonged to Directorate S, the arm of the KGB that ran "illegals", Soviet agents living abroad under false identities. He arrived in Tehran in 1977 with his wife Galina, watched the Shah fall, and spent the next four years inside a Soviet station that was corrupt, drunk and increasingly busy with a dangerous project: backing Iran's communist party, the Tudeh, as it quietly placed its people inside the new Islamic state.
The man he chose to trust was Ian McCredie, the only MI6 officer left in Tehran after the revolution, working under commercial cover in a skeleton British mission. Their meetings took place in a bathroom in the embassy compound with the taps running to defeat the bugs. MI6 gave the source a codename, REDWOOD, and a tall tree was only one of its meanings.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre follows the operation from that first approach to a hair-raising exit overland into Turkey, then keeps going, into the years when his information reached people who were never meant to have it.
How Macintyre Builds the Book
The structure is a slow fuse. Macintyre spends a long opening stretch on Kuzichkin's hard Moscow childhood, McCredie's apprenticeship, and the chaos of Tehran from the fall of the Shah to the American hostage crisis. It pays off. By the time the two men meet, you understand why a KGB officer might loathe his own service and why a British spy might risk his career on a stranger.
Then the book accelerates. The middle chapters are Macintyre at his best: dead drops, a miniature camera, a cipher machine older than most of the staff, the constant risk of Iranian surveillance and Soviet suspicion. McCredie's cooperation, and interviews with most of the MI6 officers involved, give these scenes a close texture that his earlier books sometimes had to reconstruct from paper alone. He is candid that MI6 did not authorize or vet the book and that its files remain closed.
What Works
The pairing. Kuzichkin and McCredie are an odd couple worth a novel of their own: the moody, funny, tarot-reading Russian and the careful Englishman who became his closest friend.
The motive. Macintyre is frank that part of what pushed Kuzichkin was private, a case of impotence he believed Western medicine could cure, and handles it without smirking.
The comedy. A walk-in who mistakes a diplomat for the head of MI6, iron tablets sent by MI6's chief doctor as a hopeful placebo, a codename with an accidental pun. The tone stays light until it cannot.
The scope. In Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre, one man's defection touches Afghanistan, a Canadian police mole, a Swiss spy trial and the future of Iran.
The Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy?
The subtitle makes a big claim, and the book mostly earns it, though not in the way you expect. Kuzichkin's value was less about stolen documents than what he knew about Soviet plans in Iran: the KGB's hopes for the Tudeh, and the party's people inside the armed forces, including the commander of the navy.
What makes Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre more than a caper is its portrait of the man. Kuzichkin is brave, vain, self-pitying and warm by turns, a KGB believer turned bitter enemy who never stops missing home. The book's final section follows him into a new name and a new trade in England, and those pages are among the saddest Macintyre has written.
The Untold Story Behind the Cold War's Most Uncomfortable Bargain
Here is where the book turns. Months after the defection, British and American intelligence shared the substance of Kuzichkin's material with the Ayatollah's government, in a meeting brokered by Pakistan. The Islamic Republic used it to destroy the Tudeh. Party leaders were tortured into televised confessions, Soviet diplomats were expelled, and thousands of Iranian leftists were arrested, and many later killed. For more on the party itself, the Tudeh Party's history is a useful primer.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre refuses to settle the argument. A Soviet-backed coup may have been prevented. A brutal theocracy was also strengthened. Macintyre lays out both and leaves the discomfort with the reader.
Where It Falls Short
The long run-up. The revolution and hostage chapters are well done but familiar, and the spy is slow to arrive.
The British angle dominates. With McCredie as the main living source, the Iranian victims appear mainly as consequences, although a Tudeh prisoner's testimony is harrowing.
The counterfactuals. A late passage on how history might have gone differently feels like a flourish too many.
Read It If / Skip It If
Pick up Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre if you loved The Spy and the Traitor, want a spy story with moral weight, or are curious about how Iran's revolution looked from inside its foreign embassies. Skip it if you want a tight thriller pace from page one, or a history told mainly from Iranian sources.
Content Notes
Content notes: descriptions of torture and forced confessions, executions and mass political killings, childhood domestic violence, alcoholism, suicide, the savage beating of a CIA officer, and frank discussion of sexual dysfunction.
Worth Your Shelf
The image I keep returning to is the bathroom: two men from rival empires crouched beside a running tap, trading secrets and jokes while revolutionary Tehran rages outside. Macintyre builds an entire moral history out of that small room, and then shows how far its consequences travelled.
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre is slow to start and more British in its sympathies than the story strictly deserves. But it is absorbing, humane and brave enough to admit that a great intelligence success can also be a catastrophe. Four and a half stars, and Macintyre's strongest book in years.
Read
September 20, 2026The best historical spy book I have read to date, there is so much content that was new and frankly surprising that once I picked up the book, I simply couldn't put it down. Highly recommendable for anyone with an interest in geopolitics, history or government. Contains everything from selection, training, vetting, operations to company cultures and the psychological impact of carrying out the job. Notably, it offers an insight to the relative strength of the countries where operatives were deployed and strategic planning by major powers in the Cold War continuation of the Great Game.
September 17, 2026
Macintyre does a very good job (again) of writing a compelling and pacey spy thriller, that's actually true. I warmed to Redwood and was rooting for him. And I enjoyed learning more about the Iranian revolution, of which I am very ignorant generally.
I did spend the whole time thinking why would anyone become a spy? Seems so stressful. But that is a separate dialog to what's happening in the book.
I did spend the whole time thinking why would anyone become a spy? Seems so stressful. But that is a separate dialog to what's happening in the book.
September 20, 2026
Ben Macintyre’s Redwood is a different beast entirely—cooler, tauter, and driven by the quiet pulse of Cold War paranoia. It’s a classic Macintyre experience: brisk pacing, crisp prose, and a knack for finding the human heartbeat inside geopolitical machinery. This 4‑star read shines in its ability to make espionage feel both extraordinary and strangely intimate. If there’s a minor drawback, it’s that Macintyre’s trademark momentum occasionally leaves you wanting a little more reflection. But for fans of real-life spycraft, it’s a standout.
September 27, 2026
If The Spy and The Traitor was about the elegance of espionage, then this book was about how brutal, visceral, and long lasting the consequences of the hubris of a few men can be. Very difficult to put down.
June 11, 2026
Another excellent, thoroughly interesting and well researched book from Ben Mac!
September 24, 2026
It is unbelievable how such a lie, "A Coup by the Tudeh Party in Iran after the 1979 Revolution," could be sold to MI6 and its agents. The fact that the chief MI6 agent inside Iran didn't know any names of Tudeh party members, apart from the head of the organisation, Kianouri, is revealing enough to highlight the deep problems with MI6's competency and that of its agents.
However, it is still unfathomable how such a ridiculous lie could still be uncritically narrated after 50 years, especially now that it is completely clear that the Tudeh party had less than one-tenth of the strength of the MEK, which was crushed by the Islamic regime a year before it attacked the Tudeh party. How could any sane person believe Tudeh could take over power in Tehran, where the MEK, a much more powerful and (at that time still) much more popular organisation, had been totally defeated and savagely prosecuted?
Any Soviet military intervention in Iran is also a sham and fabrication. Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan a while after a successful communist coup and takeover. They never initiated or facilitated the initial takeover of the power by the communists. The Afghans carried out that part. Thereafter, when the Soviets believed Amin's policies were harmful to their cause, they orchestrated a coup even though the communists were already in power.
The Indigenous Communist Takeover occurred in 1978, the Saur Revolution, in April 1978, when the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)—the local communist party—overthrew the government of President Mohammed Daoud Khan. Historical records show that the coup surprised the Soviet leadership. This whole part is not even mentioned in the book, while it is essential because it completely refutes the initial hypothesis that the Soviet Union would invade simultaneously to ensure a successful military coup in Iran. Because while Moscow had provided military and economic aid to Afghanistan for decades, they did not orchestrate, initiate, or facilitate this initial seizure of power.
Following the coup, the PDPA split into two hostile factions: the radical Khalq (Masses) faction led by Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin and the more moderate Parcham (Banner) faction led by Babrak Karmel. When in September 1979, Hafizullah Amin seized sole power after a violent internal struggle that resulted in the assassination of Taraki, Amin pursued brutal, rapid modernisation and purging campaigns that triggered a massive, nationwide Islamist insurgency. At this stage, the Kremlin grew deeply distrustful of Amin. Soviet leadership feared that his brutal methods would fail, allowing an anti-Soviet Islamic state to form on their southern border. They might also suspect Amin of secretly harbouring ties to the American CIA. In any case, at this stage, Soviets staged the coup.
The Tudeh party was such a weak and unpopular political force in 1979 and 1981-82 that it had no chance of taking power either through a popular uprising or a military coup. The only chance the Tudeh had for coming into power was a full-scale invasion of Iran by the Soviet troops and the installation of a puppet government in Tehran.
This whole book is just unrefutable evidence of total ignorance of British intelligence and journalists of Iran and its internal affairs. You can't gain any other conclusion out of reading this book unless the author is still willing to wishfully lie to us, the readers.
The book has many minor minute facts that could also be very useful for serious researchers. But all of these are framed in a wrong and deceitful package.
Even now, after 50 years, you can see that there is not a single document of very significant importance in the Kuzichkin Dossier in relation to the Tudeh Party or this coup. It is all hearsay, memoirs, and forced confessions that accompany the author's narrative at the end of this book.
It is crucial that we focus on the fact that only one person, Houshang Asadi, is named as having confessed to the initial coup plot. There is nothing more, not even solid evidence of a first confession by Kianouri, only a narrative from Asadi. Readers should be cautious that the Tudeh Party has had a strong working relationship with Islamic regime forces, especially those from the judiciary and the Evin prison establishment, where Tudeh has previously helped them to allegedly foil plots by monarchist military officers and also by Ghotbzadeh, although Tudeh itself fabricated evidence rather than finding a plot. It was deeply involved in prosecuting other revolutionary groups and was cooperating with the Islamic regime, so the Islamic regime should have known about many of its members, cadres, and even military ties. The fact that the author seems to act like a paid propagandaist for Kuzichkin at the end and tries to use Rafsanjani's memoirs to justify Kuzichkin's acts is mind-boggling and shows the deep capability of Western journalists for lying and internalising these lies.
But what have been the ultimate results of this operation? Does Russia have a lesser influence than the US or the UK nowadays in Iran? The answer is a big, solid NO! So, the UK was the sole loser of this James Bond game. They just gave some useless information to IRGC murderers to kill a number of harmless political activists.
However, it is still unfathomable how such a ridiculous lie could still be uncritically narrated after 50 years, especially now that it is completely clear that the Tudeh party had less than one-tenth of the strength of the MEK, which was crushed by the Islamic regime a year before it attacked the Tudeh party. How could any sane person believe Tudeh could take over power in Tehran, where the MEK, a much more powerful and (at that time still) much more popular organisation, had been totally defeated and savagely prosecuted?
Any Soviet military intervention in Iran is also a sham and fabrication. Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan a while after a successful communist coup and takeover. They never initiated or facilitated the initial takeover of the power by the communists. The Afghans carried out that part. Thereafter, when the Soviets believed Amin's policies were harmful to their cause, they orchestrated a coup even though the communists were already in power.
The Indigenous Communist Takeover occurred in 1978, the Saur Revolution, in April 1978, when the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)—the local communist party—overthrew the government of President Mohammed Daoud Khan. Historical records show that the coup surprised the Soviet leadership. This whole part is not even mentioned in the book, while it is essential because it completely refutes the initial hypothesis that the Soviet Union would invade simultaneously to ensure a successful military coup in Iran. Because while Moscow had provided military and economic aid to Afghanistan for decades, they did not orchestrate, initiate, or facilitate this initial seizure of power.
Following the coup, the PDPA split into two hostile factions: the radical Khalq (Masses) faction led by Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin and the more moderate Parcham (Banner) faction led by Babrak Karmel. When in September 1979, Hafizullah Amin seized sole power after a violent internal struggle that resulted in the assassination of Taraki, Amin pursued brutal, rapid modernisation and purging campaigns that triggered a massive, nationwide Islamist insurgency. At this stage, the Kremlin grew deeply distrustful of Amin. Soviet leadership feared that his brutal methods would fail, allowing an anti-Soviet Islamic state to form on their southern border. They might also suspect Amin of secretly harbouring ties to the American CIA. In any case, at this stage, Soviets staged the coup.
The Tudeh party was such a weak and unpopular political force in 1979 and 1981-82 that it had no chance of taking power either through a popular uprising or a military coup. The only chance the Tudeh had for coming into power was a full-scale invasion of Iran by the Soviet troops and the installation of a puppet government in Tehran.
This whole book is just unrefutable evidence of total ignorance of British intelligence and journalists of Iran and its internal affairs. You can't gain any other conclusion out of reading this book unless the author is still willing to wishfully lie to us, the readers.
The book has many minor minute facts that could also be very useful for serious researchers. But all of these are framed in a wrong and deceitful package.
Even now, after 50 years, you can see that there is not a single document of very significant importance in the Kuzichkin Dossier in relation to the Tudeh Party or this coup. It is all hearsay, memoirs, and forced confessions that accompany the author's narrative at the end of this book.
It is crucial that we focus on the fact that only one person, Houshang Asadi, is named as having confessed to the initial coup plot. There is nothing more, not even solid evidence of a first confession by Kianouri, only a narrative from Asadi. Readers should be cautious that the Tudeh Party has had a strong working relationship with Islamic regime forces, especially those from the judiciary and the Evin prison establishment, where Tudeh has previously helped them to allegedly foil plots by monarchist military officers and also by Ghotbzadeh, although Tudeh itself fabricated evidence rather than finding a plot. It was deeply involved in prosecuting other revolutionary groups and was cooperating with the Islamic regime, so the Islamic regime should have known about many of its members, cadres, and even military ties. The fact that the author seems to act like a paid propagandaist for Kuzichkin at the end and tries to use Rafsanjani's memoirs to justify Kuzichkin's acts is mind-boggling and shows the deep capability of Western journalists for lying and internalising these lies.
But what have been the ultimate results of this operation? Does Russia have a lesser influence than the US or the UK nowadays in Iran? The answer is a big, solid NO! So, the UK was the sole loser of this James Bond game. They just gave some useless information to IRGC murderers to kill a number of harmless political activists.
September 25, 2026
Historian Ben MacIntyre can be relied upon to produce a first rate, well researched spy novel: historical fiction I think it’s called because after doing much research he does take the liberty of fictionalising some of the personal interactions. In this case he was able to talk to the MI6 operative in 1980s Iran, Ian McCredie, and had access to the published diaries of the KGB double agent in Tehran, Vladimir Kuzichkin and his estranged wife.
The setting is mainly in Tehran as the Clerics and Ayatollah Khomeini swept to power after deposing the much hated Shah. The Americans and CIA have been thrown out after the embassy siege and the Brits are hanging on by the skins of their teeth in the reluctant Swedish embassy. Can MI6 together with other allied powers prevent the Soviets from annexing Iran as a puppet state by supporting Iranian home grown communist organisations, as they were attempting to do in Afghanistan?
The actual outcome resulted in terrible loss of life imposed by the clerics on communists and ordinary people. Stopping the potential spread of the Kremlin’s power in the ‘great game’ as the Cold War was called, could be seen as a success story for the West’s spy machine but a human tragedy. This is a very nuanced book. This ambivalence reminded me of another book I have read recently: Berta Isla by Spanish writer Xavier Marias, about the difficult life of Tomas Nevinson and his family after he is recruited by MI6 as an infiltrator.
I particularly enjoyed it after reading two books by Iranian authors on this year’s International Booker Prize longlist: Shida Bazyar’s The Nights are Quiet in Tehran - great family story from the 1980s across the generations to the present day; Shahrnush Parsipur’s Women without Men - a feminist novel deriding Iran’s lack of human rights for women but with several clever surreal twists. I think both books are banned in Iran.
Overall a great read but leaves the reader feeling conflicted about global undercover espionage; the personal costs to the lives of the spies involved; how a ‘successful’ operation can have massive humanitarian consequences. Book reviews on all the books I have mentioned are here on Goodreads.
The setting is mainly in Tehran as the Clerics and Ayatollah Khomeini swept to power after deposing the much hated Shah. The Americans and CIA have been thrown out after the embassy siege and the Brits are hanging on by the skins of their teeth in the reluctant Swedish embassy. Can MI6 together with other allied powers prevent the Soviets from annexing Iran as a puppet state by supporting Iranian home grown communist organisations, as they were attempting to do in Afghanistan?
The actual outcome resulted in terrible loss of life imposed by the clerics on communists and ordinary people. Stopping the potential spread of the Kremlin’s power in the ‘great game’ as the Cold War was called, could be seen as a success story for the West’s spy machine but a human tragedy. This is a very nuanced book. This ambivalence reminded me of another book I have read recently: Berta Isla by Spanish writer Xavier Marias, about the difficult life of Tomas Nevinson and his family after he is recruited by MI6 as an infiltrator.
I particularly enjoyed it after reading two books by Iranian authors on this year’s International Booker Prize longlist: Shida Bazyar’s The Nights are Quiet in Tehran - great family story from the 1980s across the generations to the present day; Shahrnush Parsipur’s Women without Men - a feminist novel deriding Iran’s lack of human rights for women but with several clever surreal twists. I think both books are banned in Iran.
Overall a great read but leaves the reader feeling conflicted about global undercover espionage; the personal costs to the lives of the spies involved; how a ‘successful’ operation can have massive humanitarian consequences. Book reviews on all the books I have mentioned are here on Goodreads.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 26, 2026
Macintyre is so good and so prolific. He has made a career of unearthing these exciting chapters of war and espionage.
September 29, 2026
I loved this, and as all Ben Macintyre books it is fun, exhilarating , and very, very hard to put down.
It’s the story of a KGB officer in post-revolution Iran who turns to MI6, and how one almost-forgotten spy story ends up shaping geopolitics far beyond the Cold War. It’s wild reading it now and seeing how many seeds of today’s world — Hormuz, 9/11, and so much in between — were being sown in parallel.
The only thing holding it back from five stars for me was the sheer number of people to keep track of and I wish Macintyre could have reminded me from time to time.
It’s the story of a KGB officer in post-revolution Iran who turns to MI6, and how one almost-forgotten spy story ends up shaping geopolitics far beyond the Cold War. It’s wild reading it now and seeing how many seeds of today’s world — Hormuz, 9/11, and so much in between — were being sown in parallel.
The only thing holding it back from five stars for me was the sheer number of people to keep track of and I wish Macintyre could have reminded me from time to time.
September 25, 2026
Insane story. Hard to capture the roller coaster of emotions. Some parts fun and exciting; other parts sobering. Really great!
October 4, 2026
medicore stuff from a writer i expect more from. while the spy stuff is punchy as always, there's something about communism that brings out an annoying editorialising side of macintyre
generally the writing is a bit worse than in his normal work. there's a series of tedious tree-based puns that reoccur and never fail to be tiresome, descriptors are repeated, events are referred to over and over, presumably because macintyre assumes that you've forgotten that kuzichkin is quite tall or russian. it's hard to not see it as being partially a cover for the fact that the actual contents of the book are relatively thin; we spend around as much time outside of iran as we do in it. it's hard to see how this could have been properly worked around, but constantly being given detailed descriptions of completely irrelevant characters is not a particularly effective way of doing so
macintyre obviously has good sources and it's easy to see how the worldview of the people he is speaking to has bled into his own. there are constant, numbing references to how stupid communism is and how communism is wrong and how the kgb are doing silly things because of their beliefs, and it's incredibly boring to listen to. i frankly don't want macintyre to make snide little jabs about any ideology - that is not why i'm reading this book. if i wanted to hear someone land tepid burns against a state that doesn't exist any more i would simply attend a family gathering with some of my relatives, it is completely irrelevant here
it also impacts the coherence of the work. the kgb is simultaneously portrayed as vicious, cunning, brutally powerful AND a series of bumbling mr magoos who are incapable of matching up to the british and american services. which is it? were they days away from planning a coup that would somehow overthrow the entire iranian government, or were they a small team of incompetents? was kuzichkin constantly being surveilled and under threat by the kgb or were they genuinely shocked by his defection? it's hard to really say, because there is no meaningful attempt to reconcile these conflicting ideas. macintyre clearly has a fairly totemic view of the evils of the soviets, so they remain terrifyingly powerful and comically inept at the same time
it's galling because, well, they didn't really do much wrong here. we all know about the depredations of stalin's empire and the gulag but, ultimately, that isn't what's happening in this story in iran. what actually happens here is that the ussr assisted a totally legal political party, and then after a significant security breach, was unable to prevent that party from being brutally murdered in its entirety. why are they the bad guys again? because we don't like them? macintyre seems to take soviet spying as some kind of affront to the people of iran, somehow ignoring that not only was england also spying and vying for regime change, but that it also did so while sheltering in the swedish embassy, meaning that they actually were lying to two countries instead of one. that the consequences for the swedes would likely have been significant does not constitute a moral stain on the brits, unlike the soviets
there's a frankly nauseating segment at the end where macintyre waffles about the thousands of deaths caused by the release of the kuzichkin files to the iranians. all and sundry wring their hands nervously, somehow trying to convince the reader that they were genuinely shocked that the murderous theocratic regime would murder its citizens given a political reason. really? this is the position we're supposed to genuinely believe? that nobody recognised that the communists in iran would be slaughtered? it's deeply insulting to the intelligence of the reader, who is supposed to believe that these otherwise amoral spies who spend their lives working on understanding a region are somehow incapable of understanding a very clear and obvious cause and effect
but then, these are the purehearted british and americans, who are fighting to keep communism out of iran. despite causing thousands of times more death than the soviets in iran, they remain untouchably noble and pure of intention. that they are also trying to spread their ideology is not considered in any sense, because macintyre genuinely does not seem to recognise that this is what is happening. instead, any and all blushes are spared because of the manichean quality of the struggle. sure thousands died, but we're very sad about that and anyway, those bloody commies needed to be slaughtered (indirect quote from an american). hopefully in his next book he can take a step back from this bizarrely exculpatory view, but i sincerely doubt it
generally the writing is a bit worse than in his normal work. there's a series of tedious tree-based puns that reoccur and never fail to be tiresome, descriptors are repeated, events are referred to over and over, presumably because macintyre assumes that you've forgotten that kuzichkin is quite tall or russian. it's hard to not see it as being partially a cover for the fact that the actual contents of the book are relatively thin; we spend around as much time outside of iran as we do in it. it's hard to see how this could have been properly worked around, but constantly being given detailed descriptions of completely irrelevant characters is not a particularly effective way of doing so
macintyre obviously has good sources and it's easy to see how the worldview of the people he is speaking to has bled into his own. there are constant, numbing references to how stupid communism is and how communism is wrong and how the kgb are doing silly things because of their beliefs, and it's incredibly boring to listen to. i frankly don't want macintyre to make snide little jabs about any ideology - that is not why i'm reading this book. if i wanted to hear someone land tepid burns against a state that doesn't exist any more i would simply attend a family gathering with some of my relatives, it is completely irrelevant here
it also impacts the coherence of the work. the kgb is simultaneously portrayed as vicious, cunning, brutally powerful AND a series of bumbling mr magoos who are incapable of matching up to the british and american services. which is it? were they days away from planning a coup that would somehow overthrow the entire iranian government, or were they a small team of incompetents? was kuzichkin constantly being surveilled and under threat by the kgb or were they genuinely shocked by his defection? it's hard to really say, because there is no meaningful attempt to reconcile these conflicting ideas. macintyre clearly has a fairly totemic view of the evils of the soviets, so they remain terrifyingly powerful and comically inept at the same time
it's galling because, well, they didn't really do much wrong here. we all know about the depredations of stalin's empire and the gulag but, ultimately, that isn't what's happening in this story in iran. what actually happens here is that the ussr assisted a totally legal political party, and then after a significant security breach, was unable to prevent that party from being brutally murdered in its entirety. why are they the bad guys again? because we don't like them? macintyre seems to take soviet spying as some kind of affront to the people of iran, somehow ignoring that not only was england also spying and vying for regime change, but that it also did so while sheltering in the swedish embassy, meaning that they actually were lying to two countries instead of one. that the consequences for the swedes would likely have been significant does not constitute a moral stain on the brits, unlike the soviets
there's a frankly nauseating segment at the end where macintyre waffles about the thousands of deaths caused by the release of the kuzichkin files to the iranians. all and sundry wring their hands nervously, somehow trying to convince the reader that they were genuinely shocked that the murderous theocratic regime would murder its citizens given a political reason. really? this is the position we're supposed to genuinely believe? that nobody recognised that the communists in iran would be slaughtered? it's deeply insulting to the intelligence of the reader, who is supposed to believe that these otherwise amoral spies who spend their lives working on understanding a region are somehow incapable of understanding a very clear and obvious cause and effect
but then, these are the purehearted british and americans, who are fighting to keep communism out of iran. despite causing thousands of times more death than the soviets in iran, they remain untouchably noble and pure of intention. that they are also trying to spread their ideology is not considered in any sense, because macintyre genuinely does not seem to recognise that this is what is happening. instead, any and all blushes are spared because of the manichean quality of the struggle. sure thousands died, but we're very sad about that and anyway, those bloody commies needed to be slaughtered (indirect quote from an american). hopefully in his next book he can take a step back from this bizarrely exculpatory view, but i sincerely doubt it
October 4, 2026
This might be the first Ben Macintyre book which I had to slog through a bit. After having read "The spy and the traitor" and "A spy among friends" you can sort of guess how Ben Macintyre will handle this subject matter. It seemed predictable and also sadly like a money grab. With the ongoing war in Iran, it is the best time to release a book like this. Some of the passages felt hyperbolic, almost trying to inflate the importance of the protagonist. Trying to insinuate that if the protagonist had not done what he did, the world might have faced nuclear Armageddon. This seems to be a huge stretch to get to sell more books.
Maybe I have read one two many Ben Macintyre book and find it too formulaic, or maybe this book really was rushed to cash in on the current news cycle. Whatever the case may be, the book while engaging was far from his best work.
Maybe I have read one two many Ben Macintyre book and find it too formulaic, or maybe this book really was rushed to cash in on the current news cycle. Whatever the case may be, the book while engaging was far from his best work.
September 23, 2026
Ben Macintyre at his best with a big bit of history told through the story of a few very compelling people. I don't remember so many moments that made me chuckle in his previous writings. Very timely and tense.
September 26, 2026
Mr Ben does it again. This started out great! Then there were a lot of Russian and Iranian names that made it a little hard to follow. But then it totally picked up again and was just a fantastic story.
September 27, 2026
The meeting had the potential to either yield a gold mine of intelligence or end in utter failure. There was a third possibility in the clandestine rendezvous that couldn’t be ignored by either Vladimir Kuzichkin or Ian McCredie: being discovered by Iranian intelligence services, which could lead to deadly consequences for both men.
KGB major Kuzichkin and MI6 officer McCredie were enemies in the simmering Cold War. Both were stationed in Iran where they were continuing a spy game that had taken on a new life after the Iranian Revolution. As of 1981, the Ayatollah Khomeini was the leader of Iran, yet the country remained fraught with instability. Factional warfare was waged on the streets, and its westernization took a giant step back. The Soviets and the Western powers sought to make inroads with the group most likely to wield power.
Kuzichkin had his fill of the cloak-and-dagger life after living in Tehran for a little more than five years. He grew disenchanted with the drunkenness and corruption of his KGB comrades. The stress in running a pair of agents (codenamed Konrad and Evi) for Directorate S had led to his increasing reliance on alcohol, along with a malaise that took a toll on his marriage. Kuzichkin agreed to feed information to McCredie if McCredie’s people could help with an unorthodox request: providing a cure for his lethargic libido. The first nugget of info Kuzichkin offered was a doozy. The Soviets were plotting to replace the Iranian government with a Soviet-friendly regime. If successful, it could drastically shift the momentum in the Cold War.
Kuzichkin was born into the spy world as his stepfather had served in the KGB. His intellect led to his recruitment by the KGB, which sought out intelligent but loyal men of derring-do. While being trained, his education focused on the United States as the main enemy. McCredie was recruited by MI6 while attending Cambridge. His training taught him how to recruit and run agents. Both men had passed background checks and various testing from their respective intelligence agencies. McCredie was prepared for a recruitment of a high-level defector, but Kuzichkin was as atypical as his motive.
McCredie established the rules for communication between Kuzichkin and himself as the need for discretion was paramount. Phone calls with coded language led to covert intelligence drops between the two spies. Kuzichkin’s value to MI6 and the West grew each month. He began to show the strain from his duplicity, and by 1982 he was clamoring for an exfiltration from Iran. If McCredie could successfully move him out of an increasingly dangerous Iran, he would have pulled off two intelligence coups in a year’s time.
REDWOOD is even more compelling than Ben Macintyre’s previous books about spies. The opening sequence is riveting and revealing in how it showcases the two primary characters, who soon will be locked in a partnership that promises to be both rewarding and frustrating over the ensuing weeks and months. As crucial as Kuzichkin and McCredie are to the narrative, Iran and its historical evolution become an important focus of the story, especially as the two men try to acclimate themselves to a country in the midst of a turbulent transition. The last full decade of the Cold War has begun. The potential for mutually assured destruction has revived itself, and Iran remains a key piece in the great game between reigning superpowers.
Macintyre’s sublime skill as a writer is in portraying history in a way that allows for the heaviest moments to speak for themselves. REDWOOD is outstanding from start to finish as he continues to thrill with each new release.
Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro
KGB major Kuzichkin and MI6 officer McCredie were enemies in the simmering Cold War. Both were stationed in Iran where they were continuing a spy game that had taken on a new life after the Iranian Revolution. As of 1981, the Ayatollah Khomeini was the leader of Iran, yet the country remained fraught with instability. Factional warfare was waged on the streets, and its westernization took a giant step back. The Soviets and the Western powers sought to make inroads with the group most likely to wield power.
Kuzichkin had his fill of the cloak-and-dagger life after living in Tehran for a little more than five years. He grew disenchanted with the drunkenness and corruption of his KGB comrades. The stress in running a pair of agents (codenamed Konrad and Evi) for Directorate S had led to his increasing reliance on alcohol, along with a malaise that took a toll on his marriage. Kuzichkin agreed to feed information to McCredie if McCredie’s people could help with an unorthodox request: providing a cure for his lethargic libido. The first nugget of info Kuzichkin offered was a doozy. The Soviets were plotting to replace the Iranian government with a Soviet-friendly regime. If successful, it could drastically shift the momentum in the Cold War.
Kuzichkin was born into the spy world as his stepfather had served in the KGB. His intellect led to his recruitment by the KGB, which sought out intelligent but loyal men of derring-do. While being trained, his education focused on the United States as the main enemy. McCredie was recruited by MI6 while attending Cambridge. His training taught him how to recruit and run agents. Both men had passed background checks and various testing from their respective intelligence agencies. McCredie was prepared for a recruitment of a high-level defector, but Kuzichkin was as atypical as his motive.
McCredie established the rules for communication between Kuzichkin and himself as the need for discretion was paramount. Phone calls with coded language led to covert intelligence drops between the two spies. Kuzichkin’s value to MI6 and the West grew each month. He began to show the strain from his duplicity, and by 1982 he was clamoring for an exfiltration from Iran. If McCredie could successfully move him out of an increasingly dangerous Iran, he would have pulled off two intelligence coups in a year’s time.
REDWOOD is even more compelling than Ben Macintyre’s previous books about spies. The opening sequence is riveting and revealing in how it showcases the two primary characters, who soon will be locked in a partnership that promises to be both rewarding and frustrating over the ensuing weeks and months. As crucial as Kuzichkin and McCredie are to the narrative, Iran and its historical evolution become an important focus of the story, especially as the two men try to acclimate themselves to a country in the midst of a turbulent transition. The last full decade of the Cold War has begun. The potential for mutually assured destruction has revived itself, and Iran remains a key piece in the great game between reigning superpowers.
Macintyre’s sublime skill as a writer is in portraying history in a way that allows for the heaviest moments to speak for themselves. REDWOOD is outstanding from start to finish as he continues to thrill with each new release.
Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro
September 22, 2026
Redwood Ben Macintyre. What a marvellous book, retelling the history of one of the most important and dangerous defections of the Cold War era. Ben Macintyre has done a fabulous job here, telling a story which is complex with real clarity and pace. Despite dealing with deadly serious situations, the book recognises that the protagonists of international affairs are often funny and interesting people who laugh at the absurdity of it all. There are times, which surprised me, when I laughed with them.
A lot of espionage novel writers would benefit from seeing how Macintyre constructs this historical story. Rather than obsessing over every piece of tradecraft, he retells a story which actually takes place over several years without making it too long or losing the reader along the way.
The book also has a moral core, which is unanswered. A lot of espionage books deal with the mechanics of the defection or the geo-politics of the situation. The book does look at those, but it also looks at the consequences for individuals. Having gathered a treasure trove of intelligence, the British and Americans use of that intelligence material had far reaching consequences which continue to this day and a terrible human cost. Some of the people in the book are still grappling with their conscience, it is such a pleasure to read a book that doesn't divide the world neatly into good guys and bad guys.
I really enjoyed this. Anyone interested in the Cold War, contemporary Middle East Politics or espionage should consider it.
A lot of espionage novel writers would benefit from seeing how Macintyre constructs this historical story. Rather than obsessing over every piece of tradecraft, he retells a story which actually takes place over several years without making it too long or losing the reader along the way.
The book also has a moral core, which is unanswered. A lot of espionage books deal with the mechanics of the defection or the geo-politics of the situation. The book does look at those, but it also looks at the consequences for individuals. Having gathered a treasure trove of intelligence, the British and Americans use of that intelligence material had far reaching consequences which continue to this day and a terrible human cost. Some of the people in the book are still grappling with their conscience, it is such a pleasure to read a book that doesn't divide the world neatly into good guys and bad guys.
I really enjoyed this. Anyone interested in the Cold War, contemporary Middle East Politics or espionage should consider it.
October 6, 2026
The author concludes the last chapter with a date of April 2026 in London. When he started research for the book I can’t imagine that he expected to finish writing amidst the current hostilities in the gulf between Iran and the U.S. But given that Donald Trump advocated during the Iran hostage crisis that the U.S. needed to invade Iran, the current gulf war should not be all that surprising. The book reveals insights about concerns of Russian invasion of Iraq that until now i never truly grasped when the Cold War seemed to center on Europe. But as the book points out, the concern of Russia taking over Iran and closing the gulf frightened the U.S. government. And though Russia then posed a more formidable opponent to the U.S. then in a conventional war, the advancement of technology through weapons like drones has bridged the gap between the U.S. and Iran. Because the Soviet’s plans were eventually foiled by one of the strangest motivations in the annals of spying, the old adage of history being doomed to repeat itself doesn’t technically hold here. But the reality is that what the U.S. feared in the 80’s has now come to fruition. All this told as “background” plot to a spy story that raises moral dilemmas about the implications of decisions when lives are taken as a form of collateral damage.
September 24, 2026
Macintyre has done it again — told the story of another spy who spilled secrets he was supposed to keep and changed the course of history as a result. In this case, it’s a very mixed picture. The spy is Russian, his world is the hotbed of political intrigue that is Iran, past and present. The agent came to despise communism and the KGB, and spilled all to a MI6 handler. As a result, he brought down the Iranian Communist party, leading to the death (and torture) of 6,000 of them, and thus saved the world from a Russian coup and perhaps a nuclear confrontation with the West. So there was that. But it also led to the Ayatollahs, the death of 30,000 more Iranians at the hands of the Revolutionary Guard, and indirectly 9/11, the Iraq War, and now the Iran war. Spycraft is rarely so effective — or so deadly. It’s a depressing reminder that you shouldn’t be fooled by the argument that spying nets out to a draw — we learn about them and they learn about us and it’s a standoff. In some cases, it changes history and it’s as terrifying as any act of human aggression can be.
October 6, 2026
Redwood is one of Macintyre’s best works and very much a return to form(not that he’s ever really gone away). More importantly it follows a very similar structure as The Spy and The Traitor - his best work in my humble opinion. For a good 60% of the book he carefully builds a central protagonist with a few key characters on either side of the espionage battle ground. You get to learn so much about Redwood, this intimate connection makes you very invested in a certain outcome that you can tell the narrative is leading to. As with all BM books, the action ramps up to a crescendo and crashes all over you in the key two chapters - it’s unputdownable at that point and really, really fun. As always with Macintyre, he gives you just a little bit more than a standard spy book - after the central character fades from view, he provides a closure to the story and closes lots of loose threads as well as sets the political and historical scene as the curtains close on the narrative.
Brilliant and highly recommended!
Brilliant and highly recommended!
October 5, 2026
I thoroughly enjoyed Ben Macintyre’s Redwood. It introduced me to aspects of the relationships between KGB officer Vladimir Kuzichkin, MI6 officer Ian McCredie, their CIA and Iran's Islamic Republic counterparts that I had not previously known, while telling the story with humour and considerable narrative flair.
For me, its appeal lies in the combination of historical revelation and storytelling. Macintyre makes the personal relationships within this world of espionage as absorbing as the intelligence operations themselves. The humour gives the narrative a welcome lightness without diminishing the seriousness of its subject.
An engrossing read from a writer who knows how to bring history to life.
For me, its appeal lies in the combination of historical revelation and storytelling. Macintyre makes the personal relationships within this world of espionage as absorbing as the intelligence operations themselves. The humour gives the narrative a welcome lightness without diminishing the seriousness of its subject.
An engrossing read from a writer who knows how to bring history to life.
October 1, 2026
An incredible story that offers a detailed look at the spy’s craft. The entire narrative grips the reader like a thriller and is packed with unforgettable action sequences. Yet, amidst the thrills and chills, the author takes us to revolutionary Tehran, a place where the interests of global superpowers collide, so we also get a substantial dose of political analysis of the Cold War world. Once again, we see that truth is stranger than fiction and switching sides in a conflict can hinge on the most mundane, personal matters. I’d bet that this story will eventually make for a brilliant screenplay.
September 26, 2026
Couldn’t say it better than the last sentence of The Times review
Redwood, however, which has already been nominated for the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, is chiefly its author’s triumph. Topical in its subject matter, deft in its depiction of the Polaroid colours of Tehran of the time, it is also a masterclass in the ethics of espionage. Above all, it brings to life the strains and responsibilities, the emotions and passions and inspirations — the eternally human concerns — of the spy’s world.
Redwood, however, which has already been nominated for the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, is chiefly its author’s triumph. Topical in its subject matter, deft in its depiction of the Polaroid colours of Tehran of the time, it is also a masterclass in the ethics of espionage. Above all, it brings to life the strains and responsibilities, the emotions and passions and inspirations — the eternally human concerns — of the spy’s world.
October 7, 2026
I lived in Iran just before and during the revolution and kept my own diary on what was going on. I never understood the role of the Tudeh party which was basically viewed as one of the parties on the left, all of whom were slowly but certainly destroyed by the clerical ascendancy.
This book is a great eye opener and throws light on what happened and how in fact both CIA and MI5 helped ultimately helped the destruction of the last remaining opposition party, the Tudeh party.
Good reference book as well as telling a personal story of the KGB defector who set it all in motion
This book is a great eye opener and throws light on what happened and how in fact both CIA and MI5 helped ultimately helped the destruction of the last remaining opposition party, the Tudeh party.
Good reference book as well as telling a personal story of the KGB defector who set it all in motion
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Ben MacIntyre did a talk on Tuesday at the Emmanuel Centre about Redwood, after which I purchased the book. As ever, MacIntyre has written a well researched and pacy book, which I could not put down. I think he does an excellent job of including details about the day to day lives of his “characters”, which can be an enjoyable respite from detailed political machinations. I learnt a lot and enjoyed this book- which is all one can really ask for.
September 30, 2026
It’s the story of a KGB officer in post-revolution Iran who turns to MI6, and how one almost-forgotten spy story ends up shaping geopolitics far beyond the Cold War. It’s wild reading it now and seeing how many seeds of today’s world — Hormuz, 9/11, and so much in between — were being sown in parallel.
The only thing holding it back from five stars for me was the sheer number of people to keep track of and I wish Macintyre could have reminded me from time to time.
The only thing holding it back from five stars for me was the sheer number of people to keep track of and I wish Macintyre could have reminded me from time to time.
October 4, 2026
Amazing book that does a great job weaving the stories of a number of people involved. I am so fascinated about how the littlest of things has a ripple through history. If this spy didn’t suffer from a “medical condition” he probably doesn’t defect, Iran becomes a pawn in the Cold War between the ussr and west, and who knows what else
Author is amazing at weaving these details and it’s a great read on a crappy weather weekend
Author is amazing at weaving these details and it’s a great read on a crappy weather weekend
September 25, 2026
Inside the actual MI6 and KGB, with interesting people and a great story at a fascinating and pivotal time in a country that has loomed large for most of my lifetime. How could it not be good? But it was even better than that. Perfect blend of history and storytelling. Listened on Audible and wished I could keep my headphones in all day.
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