A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
Ben Macintrye, 2014
384 pp.

Book Review by Molly Lundquist
April, 2014
A good deal of ink has been spilled over the years on Kim Philby, the British spy working all the while for the Soviet Union, so it's surprising to find yet one more book on him. But Ben Macintyre, who has penned some of the most exciting true-life spy stories written, takes a different approach.

Macintyre considers Philby in the light of his decades-long friendships within the old boys' club of British intelligence. Given the closeness and length of those friendships, Philby's secrecy, duplicity—and brazenness—boggle the mind. Yet his betrayal is part of cold war history, as are the countless lives lost because of him.

Philby, and other young upper class men were recruited to communism during their university years. They signed on out of idealism and disillusionment with British society. Philby, in particular, was wholly committed despite the brutality of the Stalin years: Stalin was merely a hiccup in what would otherwise be a long, glorious history, he maintained.

With his movie star looks and over-the-top charm, Philby attracted friends wherever he went, especially among intelligence community. The early spies were a tight-knit, hard-drinking group because only with one another could they let their guards down and be open about what they did.

Taking advantage of their openness and trust, Philby passed on their information, for nearly 30 years, to his KGB handlers. One of the ironies was that as Philby rose through the ranks—he was a star—and the better his information got, the less the Soviets trusted him. They wondered what we wonder: how could someone so thoroughly English, so vested in the upper echelons of society, be a turncoat?

And that's the drawing power of Macintyre's book. That question—how could he have turned against the very people who raised him, encouraged him to thrive?—lies at the heart of this story. It's never fully answered, and perhaps it never will be...because up to his death, Kim Philby remained an enigma.

We know that Philby was eventually outed, but this reviewer won't tell you exactly when or how it happened—or the outcome (if you don't already know it). The suspense is wonderfully taut, and Macintyre pulls off the amazing trick of making us care (almost) about one of history's despicable scoundrels. It's a marvelous read!

See our Reading Guide for A Spy Among Friends.