Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Spy in the Archive:
It ain’t sexy, but it’ll do.
Quick synopsis:
The story of a KGB agent who pulls off the strangest espionage mission I’ve ever seen.
Fact for Non-History People:
Russian spying peaked in the 1980s with an estimated 100,000 communist spies in Western nations.
Fact for History Nerds:
Dmitri Polyakov was a GRU General who reached the rank of Major General and spied for the West.
My Take on The Spy in the Archive:
Beware the librarian. Or more accurately, beware the Russian archivist in Gordon Corera’s The Spy in the Archive. He might write everything down. Literally.
Vasili Mitrokhin worked for the KGB. He wasn’t very good at the field activities and ended up banished to the archives. What kind of damage can anyone do there, right? Well, Mitrokhin read about all the horrible things his employers did and decided to tell the world about it. A few problems. Who was he going to tell, how could he avoid getting caught, and what was he going to tell his family when it was time to get out of dodge?
The story is a homerun. Corera does a very good job adding specifics whenever he can and tell the larger story of the evolution and dissolution of the USSR. I know some reviews question the overall impact of Mitrokhin’s work when it is all said and done. This is a totally valid criticism as there is not a huge catharsis by the end. However, I think the journey is what drew me in, and I felt that showing the terror the KGB unleashed (and is still unleashing under a new name) is worth your time.
I do think Corera probably draws out the story a bit too much. It’s only 270ish pages but could have cut about 50 pages to make this a bit more impactful. It mostly has to do with the author trying to add an air of mystery early in the book. A more straightforward telling would have kept the narrative moving faster but it’s a minor nitpick. This is still a good time.
(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by Pegasus Books. All opinions are my own, comrade.)
Verdict:
A good time. Buy it here!
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