The Spies of Winter: The GCHQ codebreakers who fought the Cold War

by Sinclair McKay

In 1945 the Second World War was over and a shattered world faced the future.  For the men and women of the newly formed GCHQ, however, the next global conflict had already begun. 
  Following on from the enormous success of his bestseller, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park , renowned author Sinclair McKay uncovers the
story of what happened after the end of the Second World War Once victory was declared, many of the individuals who had achieved the seemingly impossible at Bletchley Park by cracking the impenetrable Enigma codes and giving the Allies an invaluable insight directly into the Nazi war machine, moved on to GCHQ. This was the British government’s new facility established to fight a different, but no less formidable foe – Stalin and the KGB. Fascinating and insightful revelations from deep within the archives of this secret organisation reveal the story of the tumultuous early years of GCHQ as it navigated its way through an era of double agents, deception and betrayals. From the defection of the Cambridge Five and the treachery of the atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs, to the collapse of the British Empire, the ascension of Chairman Mao and the emergence of the US as a superpower, McKay deftly explores the impact these events had on the fledgling organisation. During the years of the Cold War the men and women of GCHQ penetrated Soviet encryptions and gathered crucial intelligence from all over the world. The Spies of Winter tells the story of the codebreakers themselves and how they used new technology to expand the horizons of cryptography in order to defend the nation and maintain the fragile peace in a world now under the shadow of nuclear holocaust. 

Genres: Espionage, History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

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.
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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.