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The Terminal Spy: A True Story of Espionage, Betrayal and Murder Audiobook
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(3.02) - 125 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In a page-turning narrative that reads like a thriller, an award-winning journalist exposes the troubling truth behind the world’s first act of nuclear terrorism.
On November 1, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko sipped tea in London’s Millennium Hotel. Hours later the Russian émigré and former intelligence officer, who was sharply critical of Russian president Vladimir Putin, fell ill and within days was rushed to the hospital. Fatally poisoned by a rare radioactive isotope slipped into his drink, Litvinenko issued a dramatic deathbed statement accusing Putin himself of engineering his murder. Alan S. Cowell, then London Bureau Chief of the New York Times, who covered the story from its inception, has written the definitive story of this assassination and of the profound international implications of this first act of nuclear terrorism.
Who was Alexander Litvinenko? What had happened in Russia since the end of the cold war to make his life there untenable and in severe jeopardy even in England, the country that had granted him asylum? And how did he really die? The life of Alexander Litvinenko provides a riveting narrative in its own right, culminating in an event that rang alarm bells among western governments at the ease with which radioactive materials were deployed in a major Western capital to commit a unique crime. But it also evokes a wide range of other issues: Russia's lurch to authoritarianism, the return of the KGB to the Kremlin, the perils of a new cold war driven by Russia's oil riches and Vladimir Putin's thirst for power.
Cowell provides a remarkable and detailed reconstruction both of how Litvinenko died and of the issues surrounding his murder. Drawing on exclusive reporting from Britain, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the United States, he traces in unprecedented detail the polonium trail leading from Russia's closed nuclear cities through Moscow and Hamburg to the Millenium Hotel in central London. He provides the most detailed step-by-step explanation of how and where polonium was found; how the assassins tried on several occasions to kill Litvinenko; and how they bungled a conspiracy that may have had more targets than Litvinenko himself.
With a colorful cast that includes the tycoons, spies, and killers who surrounded Litvinenko in the roller-coaster Russia of the 1990s, as well as the émigrés who flocked to London in such numbers that the British capital earned the sobriquet “Londongrad,” this book lays out the events that allowed an accused killer to escape prosecution in a delicate diplomatic minuet that helped save face for the authorities in London and Moscow.
A masterful work of investigative reporting, The Terminal Spy offers unprecedented insight into one of the most chilling true stories of our time.
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"Based upon a 2006 account of Russia's President Pudin and how a spy/traitor was killed by an old adjective of poisioning. Death by leathal does of pollum that was given to the spy/traitor in the Cold War times as a harsh death sentence. A good read if interested in actual accounts of murder. "
— Shandra (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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Absorbing.
— The New York Times -
Meticulous reporting . . . Cowell plays out the Byzantine possibilities behind this killing with heroic clarity . . . The Terminal Spy is not simply a wholly engrossing and thought-provoking story of espionage and homicide.
— Los Angeles Times -
Doggedly reported and dramatically written . . . Cowell tells the story with literary panache but doesn’t let his stylish prose eclipse the substance of a sordid tale. The sections about espionage and the assassination are worthy of Tom Clancy, but the author’s political analysis is equally riveting. . . . A well-told true-crime tale mixed with expert political/historical analysis.
— Kirkus Reviews -
Reads like a thriller. But The Terminal Spy is a chilling and horrific true story. Alan Cowell has done a brilliant job of investigative reporting.
— David Wise, author of Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI’s Robert Hanssen Betrayed America -
Compulsively researched and sourced.
— The Guardian (London) -
In The Terminal Spy Alan Cowell, a top-flight investigative journalist, digs deep into today’s brutal Russia to find a new Soviet Union waiting to be born. Or maybe it never went away.
— Alan Furst, author of The Spies of Warsaw -
Alan Cowell has used a veteran journalist’s skill to lead us through the roads of deceit and brutality and has exposed the vicious retribution of Russia’s security apparatus against the former KGB officer who dared to condemn Putin’s modern Russia, and paid for it with his life. This is a story of the real world in which we live—brilliantly told—and chilling in its implications. The Terminal Spy should be read by everyone seeking an insight to today’s Moscow.
— Gerald Seymour -
The cast of characters is astonishing and so complex that the author felt compelled to list them all in a who’s who at the beginning, and you’ll be glad he did. Complementing this outré ensemble is a Byzantine story line that could have dissolved easily into a hopeless stew in less adroit hands, but Cowell, the New York Times’ former London bureau chief and an investigative reporter, knows the story inside out. And he writes exceedingly well.
— Star Tribune -
A brilliant, subtle book . . . a fascinating account which tells us much about the people involved, and even more by inference of the world they inhabit and the society which created them.
— Anthony Robinson, former Moscow bureau chief, Financial Times
The Terminal Spy Listener Reviews
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" Another chilling account of the long, deadly reach of Russia's intelligence services. "
— Michael, 2/7/2014 -
" ARC,Donating "
— Lauren, 1/3/2014 -
" Very interesting story, but this book is not written well. "
— Ben, 11/9/2013 -
" This is a true story of a Russian spy that was killed by poison. I had a really heard time getting through this but about half way through it started to get better. Depicted Russia as a Mafia invested Country with alot of greed, power and violence. Sad story!! "
— Marla, 10/14/2013 -
" An journalist documentary "
— Gustaf, 7/27/2013 -
" Based upon a 2006 account of Russia's President Pudin and how a spy/traitor was killed by an old adjective of poisioning. Death by leathal does of pollum that was given to the spy/traitor in the Cold War times as a harsh death sentence. A good read if interested in actual accounts of murder. "
— Shandra, 6/14/2013 -
" Very hard to get through the entire book. Is not really a thriller as implied, but a very much a historical account. "
— Hayley, 7/23/2012 -
" very interesting nonfiction story of Russian spy who was poisoned with radioactive material a few years ago in London "
— Jim, 7/2/2012 -
—
M, 11/8/2011
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" Its unbelievable to acknowledge this is real life and not some fiction story. "
— Tina, 8/18/2011 -
" Fascinating subject but not a fascinating book. Portions of the book are really well written but somehow strung together the story was not so cohesive. "
— Andrea, 7/23/2011 -
" This is a true story of a Russian spy that was killed by poison. I had a really heard time getting through this but about half way through it started to get better. Depicted Russia as a Mafia invested Country with alot of greed, power and violence. Sad story!! "
— Marla, 12/18/2010 -
" Three lessons: <br/> <br/>-- avoid contact with polonimum 210 <br/>-- never criticize the Russian FSB or Russian oligarchs <br/>-- work for the separation of wealth and power in the U.S. as a cornerstone of democracy <br/> <br/> "
— Fred, 2/16/2009 -
" Its unbelievable to acknowledge this is real life and not some fiction story. "
— Tina, 11/17/2008 -
" Very interesting story, but this book is not written well. "
— Ben, 10/13/2008 -
" very interesting nonfiction story of Russian spy who was poisoned with radioactive material a few years ago in London "
— Jim, 9/27/2008 -
" Fascinating subject but not a fascinating book. Portions of the book are really well written but somehow strung together the story was not so cohesive. "
— Andrea, 8/21/2008
About Alan S. Cowell
Alan S. Cowell served as a correspondent for Reuters and the New York Times in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has been based in twelve capitals and reported the news from around ninety countries and territories. Cowell is married and has three children. He is now based in Paris.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.