Spies, Lies, and Exile

by Simon Kuper (New Press, $28)

Even Kim Philby did less damage to Western intelligence operations than fellow double agent George Blake, said Henry Hemming in The Wall Street Journal. Blake shares his story in this fascinating book by the Financial Times’ Simon Kuper, who flew to Russia several years ago to interview the former MI6 officer. Blake is intriguing: charismatic but self-deceiving. “The beauty of Spies is the manner in which Blake’s credulity is matched, blow for blow, by Kuper’s considered skepticism.”