KIM PHILBY: Our Man in Moscow

by Christian Shakespeare

The world of the secret agents of the Cold War were the unseen vanguard of the fight to both expand and contain the spread of world communism. It was a world filled with dishonesty and when someone works in the world of secret espionage they expect it first-hand. But nobody was more dishonest than one man, the lies and the duplicity committed by an individual with no conscience to the consequences of his actions. Someone who simply holds a higher regard for an idea than for human life holds pure evil rationalised as nobility. Many friends simply refuse to believe it or could not say anything without the risk of losing everything. Treachery was part and parcel in the tense days of the Cold War where nobody can ever be trusted unless they were of the right class, the right accent and of the right connections. But that is no guarantee… In January of 1963, in the age of atomic bombs, the Beatles, and flower power, a man slips out of Beirut and flees to the Soviet Union. For almost 30 years Kim Philby, senior intelligence officer unscrupulously spied for Moscow, wilfully leaking sensitive documents while betraying his friends, colleagues, loved ones and ultimately his country. For over 10 years he was close to the top of the intelligence game, passing intense secrets, protecting his friends and ensuring the Soviet Union received high level information on state secrets. Kim Philby was both a charmer and a calculator, sending many to their deaths through his unique position. This spy, one of the most damaging of the Cold War, ensured the balance remained between east and west yet his masters never really trusted him. Kim Philby, spy, cold killer and a complicated traitor. The scale of the hypocrisy is hard to imagine, scary to appreciate just how one man could operate with a completely split personality to affect the outcome that could potentially have tipped us all into a nuclear World War III. A man just like Kim Philby.

319 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 28, 2015

Reviews

[Susan Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Preliminary

I intend to trudge through this carelessly edited book in hopes that the information gleaned is informative and reliable. However, when John Cairncross's name is consistently misspelled as "Carincross," then I doubt the reliability of the information offered. As the fifth man among these Cambridge spies, Cairncross's name should have been spelled correctly. Such a consistent mistake in the text is egregious. Additionally, some of the sentences written are very awkward, exhibit problems with loose pronominal referents, and indulge the occasional problem with subject-verb agreement. Was this book edited?
Those are objective criticisms.
Another criticism, perhaps subjective, is this: The author claims Philby was "upper class," I would argue that he was not. His sterling education certainly made him privileged, but I'm not sure his being the grandson of a tea planter based in Ceylon provides Kim Philby upper-class status. I have trouble imagining that any contemporary of his father, St. John Philby, would have said his father, son of the tea planter, was a member of the upper class.
If I am able to slog my way through the entirety of this book, I hope I'll have cause to change this evaluation. If I should have cause, then I'll write a more favorable review.

[Brea Plum · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got the ebook version from Amazon and it is in desperate need of an editor. The grammar and sentence structure are so atrocious, the punctuation errors so juvenile, that I could not get through the first couple of chapters. I will find another book on the subject that are not merely a first draft.

[Grahamalba · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. The only thing that marred it was the grammar, in places I had to reread several times to try and understand what was meant.

Had known about the „Cambridge Five“ but not as much as I would like. This was a good starter. Will look for more books on the other four. Although Cairncross‘s has never been proven as far as I know.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could be a decent book about notorious spy Harold Adrian Russell Philby (Kim), but the editing is horrible, and the scholarship attribution is lacking. In many ways, it reads like those Internet articles written by a bot. At any rate, Philby and his long career as a traitor to U.S. and British intelligence still fascinates.

[MANISH PATEL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing & captivating read !!

A very detailed profile of Philby from his birth to his death. Unbelievable that Philby was able to continue his charad for 30 years! No wonder as the author says, governments won't release all relevant case information as it will highlight their internal failures and will cause great embarrassment.

[Janene Izatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Problems with translation

Errors in translation are scattered through out the book. Especially, in simple prepositions and verbs. This made some sentences unreadable.

The content was interesting from the Soviet point of view.

[Pete Not · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely storytelling and pace.