The Spies of Winter: The GCHQ Codebreakers Who Fought the Cold War

by Sinclair McKay

Following on from the enormous success of his bestseller, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park, Sinclair McKay now uncovers the story of what happened after the Second World War was over. Many of the men and women who had worked at Bletchley Park moved on to GCHQ, the British government's new facility established to fight a new foe - Stalin's KGB. McKay has interviewed various members of this secret organisation, from codebreakers and radio listeners to mechanical engineers and computer programmes who all shared the common desire to build a new Britain and protect it throughout the Cold War.

Genres: Espionage, History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2017

About the author

Sinclair McKay writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph and The Secret Listeners and has written books about James Bond and Hammer horror for Aurum. His next book, about the wartime “Y” Service during World War II, is due to be published by Aurum in 2012. He lives in London.
-Source

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the book to be very informative; as a bunch of the topics involved in the story are still classified, it was a tad disappointing that several facets of the story weren't explained in more detail. But such is the nature of a book focused on government secrets. The book itself was highly readable and very engrossing. While some of the anecdotes related were a tad droll, they nonetheless added up to a great overall picture of the inner workings of GCHQ.

[Pauly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems to rely far too much on the authors previous books. For a history of GCHQ, the narrative barely gets out of the 1940s. A disappointment, as Sinclair McKay's book on Bletchley Park is one of the best and he is a fine speaker.

[David Lindley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read, of information allowed to be released to the public. A teaser of the Burgess/Maclean/Philby revelations without actually stating how (the next instalment?).
Very interesting analysis of postwar Soviet expansion and influence, underlined by the savage cruelty of Stalin, yet still desired by philosophical academics ???

Only for the keen enthusiasts, by nicely written by a “member of the club”

[Kimia Hszd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got very boring after first couple of chapters, too much useless details I didn’t want to know

[William Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hallow, TV drama-like work with uncomprehensive insights into cold war espionage.

[Lewis Hyam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to know what happened after Bletchley, though I suspect some of really interesting 1960's is not unclassified yet

[Debbie Cleaveley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having adored the two previous offerings from this author, I couldn’t wait to read this one. Sadly it was a deadly dry and disjointed read that had none of the charm and touch of the previous books.