• A Spy Among Friends

  • Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
  • By: Ben Macintyre
  • Narrated by: Michael Tudor Barnes
  • Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (51 ratings)

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A Spy Among Friends  By  cover art

A Spy Among Friends

By: Ben Macintyre
Narrated by: Michael Tudor Barnes
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Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre, read by Michael Tudor Barnes.

The Sunday Times number-one best-selling story of Kim Philby, history’s most famous traitor, featuring an afterword by John le Carré.

Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War.

Philby’s two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James Jesus Angleton, the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone, and then discovered they had not known him at all. This is a story of intimate duplicity, of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience, of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington, of male friendships forged and then systematically betrayed.

With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen family papers, and with the cooperation of former officers of MI6 and the CIA, this definitive biography unlocks what is perhaps the last great secret of the Cold War.

©2014 Ben Macintyre. Afterword copyright © David Cornwell 2014. (P)2021 Soundings Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"An engaging book on a tantalising and ultimately tragic subject, If it starts as a study of friendship, it ends as an indictment." (Philip Hensher, Spectator)

"No one writes about deceit and subterfuge so dramatically, authoritatively or perceptively. To read A Spy Among Friends is a bit like climbing aboard a runaway train in terms of speed and excitement - except that Macintyre knows exactly where he is going and is in total control of his material." (Daily Mail, Books of the Week)

"It reads like fiction, which is testament to the extraordinary power of the story itself but also to the skills of the storyteller...at least as compelling as any of the great fictionalised accounts of Britain's greatest traitor and one of the best real-life spy stories one is ever likely to read." (Daily Express)

What listeners say about A Spy Among Friends

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"We work like a club."

Trusted in MI6 because of his 'one of us' background, Harold Adrian Russell Philby, better known as Kim, was nevertheless ideologically a communist working for the USSR as a spy within the British Secret Service from pre second world war times until the early 1960s - some 30 years in total. This fascinating, well researched story tells of his life, his deceptions, his loves and friendships as well as his amazingly duplicitous nature. One friend in particular was one Nicholas Elliott, himself a risky star in MI6, was very close to the master spy, his background similar to that of Philby, trusted him implicitly through years of close association.
Perfectly narrated by Michael Tudor Barnes, A Spy Among Friends details both of their lives, as well as those of many others in the secret service at the same time and reads more like a spy novel worthy of John le Carre (who includes a fascinating end chapter from his personal talks with Nick Elliott) than plain history.
Recommended.

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Fascinating story

A thoroughly researched account of a lethal traitor. The story is compelling and well worth the read.

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Great book let down by poor narration and editing

Macintyre never disappoints, and his narrative is rich and well researched.

This audiobook is enjoyable, but there are many problems with the recording. Frequent mispronunciations (the subject of the book often seems to be called ‘Pilby’ or ‘Bilby’), background noise (papers rustling on many occasions in the first third), weird gaps as the narrator gears up to doing a voice for a quotation, differences in volume and sound quality between edit-points, and even misreadings (one person is described as ‘a jazz museum’: surely that should have been ‘musician’?!). It’s frustrating to have to endure all this given the quality of the book in general.

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Terrific audiobook

This was a well researched rich story with a wonderful narrator. It was a enjoyable audiobook.

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Better by far than fiction

Brilliantly researched and written, Ben Macintyre kept me enthralled, particularly by his spirited descriptions of people and events. Quite an achievement as there are far more people involved in any person’s life than even in the most intricate novel.

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A thoroughly assessment of a friendship

Even John Le Carre wouldn't have been able to write such a magnificent book, indeed. Macintyre explore both the human nature and the inner soul of a strong friendship between unknown némesis...except that one of'em knew the alpha and omega of the true behind such friendship....a charade charged with the harsh reality of cold war with the outcome of thousand under threat. A magnificent book. A strong reminder that real life is stranger and far more complex than the best fiction...meaning John Le Carre's Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy in which that author put the frustration of a whole generation of british and american spies. A book well written and marvelously read....

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Interesting story

I found the book all in all very interesting and Kim Philby definitely led a crazy double life.

Some parts of the book I found boring with information and character overload. Don't get me wrong, it's a fascinating story but I did struggle through this book. The parts that I enjoyed I was hoping for a little bit more.

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