The Lockhart Plot

Reviews / Votes

It would make a cracking Hollywood thriller ... The Lockhart Plot is terrifically entertaining. Schneer does an excellent job of evoking the paranoid atmosphere of Russia in 1918, and his book teems with colourful characters. * Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times * A rollicking and thriller-like narrative that captures the chaos and turbulence of post-revolutionary Petrograd and Moscow. * Jonathan Steele, The Guardian * Schneer has made not one but several gripping narratives out of what he has been able to discover. * Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books * A well-researched and well-written reminder of the pitfalls and bear-traps that governments can encounter when attempting, clandestinely, to interfere in other countries. * Roderick Bailey, Times Literary Supplement * The Lockhart Plot is suspenseful and moody. It takes readers back in time and place to meet and follow in the steps of the plotters, provides insight on Bolshevism and its believers and critics, and deftly presents conflicting views and perspectives. On top of that, it reads like a top-level spy novel. Outstanding. * K.M. Sandrick, Historical Novel Society * Schneer's portraits of the central characters are lifelike as he examines motivations that include money and opportunity as well as duty and idealism. It's a page turner. * David Luhrrsen, Shepherd Express * Schneer does an excellent job of untangling the thick mass of contradictory testimony, false leads, dubious sources, fake identities, double-dealing, and skullduggery to present the most complete and reliable history of Allied plotting in the first year of Soviet power. * Douglas Smith, Los Angeles Review of Books * Excellent ... [This pacey] book is worth reading for its character portraits alone. * Alexander Watson, Literary Review * A cracking book. * Mark Rowe, Professional Security Magazine * Bruce Lockhart, debonair British secret agent, and Felix Dzerzhinsky, ruthless mastermind of the Soviet security service, face off in a deadly duel of smoke and mirrors. At stake: the fate of the Russian Revolution itself. It's an incredible story and Jonathan Schneer tells it with wit, panache and a razor-sharp historical sensibility. A brilliant examination that finally uncovers the mysteries of the Lockhart Plot. * Marc Mulholland, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University and author of The Murderer of Warren Street * This is a well-written book: informative, fun to read, paced like a thriller, and very deeply researched in available sources. * Daniel Orlovsky, Journal of Modern History *