From Russia with Blood

Putin’s Ruthless Killing Campaign and Secret War on the West

By: Heidi Blake

Narrated by: Marisa Calin

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The explosive, untold story of how Russia mastered the art and science of targeted assassination‘A real life thriller, packed with characters that even John le Carré couldn't dream of. If this doesn't scare you, then you're not paying attention.’ Oliver Bullough

They thought they had found a safe haven in the green hills of England. They were wrong. One by one, the Russian oligarchs, dissidents, and gangsters who fled to Britain after Vladimir Putin came to power dropped dead in strange or suspicious circumstances. One by one, their British lawyers and fixers met similarly grisly ends. Yet, one by one, the British authorities shut down every investigation-and carried on courting the Kremlin.

In From Russia With Blood, multi-award-winning investigative journalist Heidi Blake unflinchingly documents the growing web of Russian-linked deaths on British and American soil, tracking the men who lived and died in the Kremlin’s crosshairs from London’s high-end night clubs to Miami’s million-dollar hideouts, and following a trail of increasingly savage attacks onto the streets of Salisbury, where the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent in 2018.

Working with bags of crime scene evidence, hundreds of thousands of pages of exclusive documents, surveillance footage, classified intelligence briefings, forensically restored phones and computers, and hundreds of insider interviews, Blake bravely exposes how Russia’s killing campaign fits into Putin’s pursuit of global dominance – and why Western governments have failed time and again to stop the bloodshed.

This heart-stopping international investigation – written with the pace and chilling narrative of a thriller – reveals one of the most important and terrifying stories of our time.

©2019 Heidi Blake (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

‘Breathtaking in its scope and commendable in its detail … Blake’s triumph is that she can pull an extraordinary tale of larceny on a grand scale, corruption of unprecedented levels and serial murder into a brisk, comprehensible narrative’ Sunday Herald

‘A real life thriller, packed with characters that even John le Carré couldn't dream of. If this doesn't scare you, then you're not paying attention.’ Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland

‘A spellbinding and heart-in-your-throat true story of Russian money and serial killing by agents of the Russian state in London … In addition to being an unputdownable story, her shocking expose will hopefully change the way the British authorities act on crimes emanating from Russia in the future.’ Bill Browder, author of Red Notice

‘Brilliantly and bravely researched, this book lays bare the brutal and murderous truth that lies at the core of Putin’s Russia.’ Jon Snow

‘One reads From Russia With Blood with a mix of delightful dread and serious unease. This book is, on the one hand, a thrilling detective story. On the other it whispers worrying things about Britain’s vulnerability. Entertaining and urgent in one go’ Peter Pomerantsev

‘With groundbreaking reporting, riveting stories, and layers of intrigue, From Russia With Blood unravels Vladimir Putin’s web of violence and intimidation, and adds essential detail to our understanding of the lengths the Russian government will go to silence its critics’ Ben Rhodes, former White House National Security Advisor and author of NY Times bestseller The World As It Is

‘Riveting, exhaustively researched … Reminds us that tangling with Vladimir Putin, no matter where, can be a deadly game.’ Amy Knight, author of Putin's Killers

Excellent journalism

Extremely well researched and reported work. Jaw-dropping insights into the deep end of a very particular money, power and corruption game, how the UK let it in, and is now stuck with it.