Redwood - Large Print by Ben MacIntyre (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of The Spy and the Traitor comes the ultimate true-life Cold War thriller: 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 help: 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.

Review Quotes

"I grab each new book by Ben Macintyre and read it as fast as possible. He 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. Given the current war in Iran, it is certainly his most timely."--John Grisham

"An author of thrilling spy histories par excellence, Macintyre takes readers into post-Revolutionary Iran where Islamists and leftists, once allies against imperialism, turn on each other--and where a Russian agent, unable to perform in the bedroom, turns to British intelligence for a cure. The consequences are deadly."--The New York Times (Editor's Choice)

"Redwood lives up to the attention-grabbing opening scene; I devoured it in a single sitting . . . By all means give Redwood to your father for Christmas, but make sure you read it yourself first: it's superb."--The Guardian

"[A]n artfully constructed nonfiction equivalent to one of John le Carré's most accomplished novels."--The Wall Street Journal

"The British writer Ben Macintyre has made an illustrious career of taking dusty government archives and transforming them into propulsive nonfiction thrillers. . . . With his latest, Redwood, he has done it again."--The New York Times Book Review

"[A] timely and remarkable story of Cold War espionage."--BBC Radio 4

"As in all the best spy stories, what lies at the heart of Redwood, Ben Macintyre's mesmerising tale of Cold War espionage in Iran, is the human factor. . . . Writing is understanding what makes people tick, and it is his insightful portrayal of the shifting relationship between the two spies--part mutual exploitation, part something akin to friendship--that powers Redwood and holds the attention through the complexities of its political context."--The Times (UK)

"A crackerjack spy story that only Ben Macintyre could tell so well. He seems to have talked to everyone, and cracked every file, that might shed new light on this remarkable tale."--Scott Anderson, author of King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation

"Few writers make intelligence history as readable as Ben Macintyre. His latest book follows Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Kuzichkin, whose defection during the Cold War exposed secrets that rippled through Moscow, Tehran and the West during one of the most dangerous periods of the nuclear age."--Military

"A tangled tale of spy versus spy . . . As ever, Macintyre delivers an improbable but impeccable tale of true espionage."--Kirkus Reviews

"[A] riveting real-life thriller . . . Macintyre's lively espionage saga, full of brush-pasts and dead drops, stands James Bond on his head . . . [A] morally murky tale of manipulation and unforeseen consequences."--Publishers Weekly

"In his latest book, Redwood, Macintyre moves the action to Iran in the early 1980s, when revolutionary chaos reigned under Ayatollah Khomeini and Western intelligence agencies were eager for any tidbits of information. . . . . Macintyre deftly sketches the personalities of those involved and perfectly captures the paranoia of those times."--Air Mail

About the Author

Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (UK) and the bestselling author of Agent Sonya, The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, Rogue Heroes, Prisoners of the Castle, and The Siege, among other books. Macintyre has also written and presented BBC documentaries of his work.