Red Traitor
Published on 26. May 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
464 pages
978-0-552-17835-8 (ISBN)
Description
'This is Robert Harris storytelling territory and is told with equal panache and authenticity. There could be no higher praise.' Daily Mail
One the least known but most terrifying moments in modern history - when the fate of the world lay with a lone, nervous Soviet naval officer one hundred meters under the Caribbean sea - lies at the heart of this breathtaking new Cold War thriller from the author of the acclaimed Black Sun.
The year is 1962, and KGB Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasin is searching for ghosts: for evidence of the long-rumoured existence of an American spy embedded at the highest echelons of Soviet power. But it's while on this wild goose chase, a high-stakes espionage race against a rival State agency, that Vasin first hears whispers of an ominous top-secret undertaking: Operation Anadyr.
As tensions flare between Nikita Khrushchev and President Kennedy over Russian missiles hidden in Cuba, four Soviet submarines - each carrying tactical ballistic missiles armed with thermonuclear warheads - are ordered to make a covert run at the U.S. blockade in the Caribbean . . .
One the least known but most terrifying moments in modern history - when the fate of the world lay with a lone, nervous Soviet naval officer one hundred meters under the Caribbean sea - lies at the heart of this breathtaking new Cold War thriller from the author of the acclaimed Black Sun.
The year is 1962, and KGB Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasin is searching for ghosts: for evidence of the long-rumoured existence of an American spy embedded at the highest echelons of Soviet power. But it's while on this wild goose chase, a high-stakes espionage race against a rival State agency, that Vasin first hears whispers of an ominous top-secret undertaking: Operation Anadyr.
As tensions flare between Nikita Khrushchev and President Kennedy over Russian missiles hidden in Cuba, four Soviet submarines - each carrying tactical ballistic missiles armed with thermonuclear warheads - are ordered to make a covert run at the U.S. blockade in the Caribbean . . .
Reviews / Votes
This is Robert Harris storytelling territory and is told with equal panache and authenticity. There could be no higher praise. * DAILY MAIL * Tense, exciting and authentic. Every bit as good as Black Sun. -- CHARLES CUMMING, author of Box 88 His feel for the period is a great pleasure to read. Russet October. * THE TIMES * A superlative follow-up to Black Sun . . . With some particularly tense scenes set inside submarines that put Tom Clancy to shame in their claustrophobic realism, you have a humdinger of a Cold War thriller . . . Gripping and unmistakably authentic. -- Maxim Jakubowski * CRIME TIME * This dynamic thriller skilfully weaves its story around one of the 20th-century's most tense moments, the Cuban missile crisis. * BBC HISTORY * A standout thriller . . . the story races along and Matthews' superb scene-setting . . . feels completely authentic. * FINANCIAL TIMES * Superb . . . a real cold-war tale, much in the vein of a Tom Clancy, but with a degree of detail and conviction that grabs the reader and doesn't let go . . . if you like your thrillers realistic, accurate and impossible to put down, buy a copy today. You won't regret it. * SHOTS MAGAZINE * Gripping . . . Cold War buffs will particularly enjoy the ride, though any reader who appreciates the finer points of espionage and foreign intrigue will also be well satisfied. * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * Matthews' excellent Cold War thriller . . . he writes knowledgeably about Moscow in Soviet times. the deadly rivalry between the KGB and GRU . . . the tension is real aboard the submarines . . . it's a terrific read. * CHOICE magazine 'Book of the Month' *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 124 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
328 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-552-17835-8 (9780552178358)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Russian expert OWEN MATTHEWS is the author of two highly praised works of non-fiction, Stalin's Children and An Impeccable Spy, and two acclaimed historical thrillers, Black Sun and Red Traitor. As a war correspondent, he covered conflicts in Bosnia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq and Ukraine, and for ten years he was was Newsweek's Moscow bureau chief. He divides his time between Rome and Moscow.