I only read non-fiction very occasionally, but this looked intriguing enough to borrow when I saw it at Oundle Library – and I’m glad I did! The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera is a tantalising story of how one, lowly librarian for the KGB became a traitor, stole Soviet-era archives and smuggled them to the West. I wasn’t surprised to discover that, earlier this year, it had been shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction.
Set in post-Cold War Russia, the man in question – Vasili Mitrokhin – worked for the KGB, but after a failed mission was sent to work as a librarian in the archives, where no-one of importance thought anything more about him.
Day after day, buried under files, what Mitrokhin read while he worked upset him so much that he slowly began making his own archive. He took notes about the things that had disturbed him and hid the papers in his shoes, taking them home with him at the end of each day. Slowly, over time, he created books of these notes before eventually deciding to do something with them.
First, he made an approach to the American Embassy, offering the material he had, but they turned him away. Next, he tried the British who, while they thought him a bit of an oddball, decided the information he had would be useful. Mitrokhin wanted to defect and demanded that his wife, son and mother-in-law be included in the deal, which of course made it a complicated escape for MI6 to arrange. The extraordinary thing was that the KGB deemed Mitrokhin to be such a lowly employee that, even after he’d escaped, no one really noticed he had gone. It’s a true story, and a tale of absolute daring and real-life bravery.
My verdict
Historian and journalist, Gordon Corera, was the BBC’s security correspondent and is now a Security Analyst and Visiting Professor with the Strand Group at King’s College London. He’s also co-host on the popular podcast The Rest is Classified, so the man knows what he’s talking about.
In itself, that background would probably be enough to make sure Corera’s book was interesting. But in my opinion, he’s written something that’s hugely readable, even for someone like me who doesn’t read a lot of non-fiction. The Spy in the Archive is full of suspense and danger, told in a mix of mundane detail, vivid flashbacks to Mitrokhin’s earlier career in the KGB, and the rising tension as he steals his own notes and then defects to Britain with his family and his precious archive.
As all this begins in the 1990’s the story encompasses the career of Vladimir Putin and how he worked to join the KGB and was underestimated by other countries in his rise to the presidency. It also portrays the lives of ordinary Russians at that time, and how everyone lived in fear – not just of the authorities but of family members as well, because everyone was prepared to report on each other and fear was power. I found it fascinating.
Because the story is so well written the facts and information are easy to absorb. I found it both terrifying and exciting at the same time and finished this book feeling I’d been given a new insight into what Russia is today. I’m really glad I made the effort to read this and it earns 4+ Stars.
Review by: MadDog
What’s in a Star?
At Oundle Crime we reckon that 5 Stars is “Outstanding and unforgettable. A book you can’t wait to tell others about.” And 4 Stars is “A good book with an interesting, layered story that you will still remember after a month.”
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