Product Overview

WATERSTONES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH AUGUST 2018 AND A SUNDAY TIMES
BESTSELLER 'An astonishingly detailed picture of espionage in the 1980s,
written with pacey journalistic verve and an eerily contemporary feel.' Ben
Macintyre, The Times 'A gripping story of courage, professionalism, and
betrayal in the secret world.' Rodric Braithwaite, British Ambassador in
Moscow, 1988-1992 'One of the best spy stories to come out of the Cold War and
all the more riveting for being true.' Washington Post January, 1977. While
the chief of the CIA's Moscow station fills his gas tank, a stranger drops a
note into the car. In the years that followed, that stranger, Adolf Tolkachev,
became one of the West's most valuable spies. At enormous risk Tolkachev and
his handlers conducted clandestine meetings across Moscow, using spy cameras,
props, and private codes to elude the KGB in its own backyard - until a
shocking betrayal put them all at risk. Drawing on previously classified CIA
documents and interviews with first-hand participants, The Billion Dollar Spy
is a brilliant feat of reporting and a riveting true story from the final
years of the Cold War. Read more