This is the fascinating story of a quiet, unobtrusive, effectively invisible man called Vasili Mitrokhin. But Vasili was special. He was a librarian who worked in the KGB archives. Over years, he became disillusioned with the cruelty and corruption of his country and so he started copying information by hand. His bags were searched as he left work, but not his person. So he kept the handwritten notes inside his shirt etc.,

He went to the US Embassy but they thought the strange man was a fraud. He went to the British Embassy and a young diplomat had a feeling there was substance to his story. There the adventure begins to get Vasili and his family out of Russia to safety when they knew nothing about his betrayal of Russia.

The story flows brilliantly and is truly astonishing. Mr Corera allows Vasili to be front and centre and we are caught up in the convoluted plan to get his information to the West. There was so much information that a lot of it is yet to be properly translated and investigated.

We should be giving thanks for brave souls like Vasili Mitrokhin.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley

I did struggle to get into this book as the writing was a little dense. It was a fascinating look at conscience though and about changing sides.

How do you steal an archive? One file at a time.

This is the story of a quiet, introverted archivist who had access to the most heavily guarded files in the world. Vasili Mitrokhin had started out as a communist party believer until he was transferred into the archives of the KGB. What he read there horrified & angered him to such an extent that he decided to copy the files, one by one, in his own shorthand code to be rewritten in his own time at home. This work goes on for decades until one day, an old man presents himself at the British Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania & says that he has important information for them. Pages & pages of information about Soviet secret services & the infiltration of Western countries by sleeper agents known as Illegals, including names & codenames of double agents - all dutifully copied by Mitrokhin. What turned him into a dissident, a spy, & a traitor was a love for his country & hatred of the dark forces that were now running it.

A fascinating & informative look at the post-Stalin Soviet Union & the rule of the Chekists - we even get an introduction to a young Putin. Although it sometimes veered into academically dry territory, the author always managed to re-engage my interest, especially with the workings of the (sometimes seemingly inept) British MI6. A well-researched, accessibly written account.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, 4th Estate/Williams Collins, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Absolutely stunning. Reads like the best spy thriller you have ever read, but it's a true story which adds much authenticity. Loved by my husband and son in law also. A truly gripping tale.

“How do you steal an archive? Slowly. Over years and years, was the answer.”

The Spy in the Archive tells the story of Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB agent unsuccessful in the field and demoted to the archives, who over his lifetime becomes more and more disillusioned with the Russia he sees revealed in the files that pass before him and spends a working lifetime surreptitiously copying files and gathering information. The terrifying power of the authorities as they spy on their own citizens make it a hugely dangerous endeavour and it is virtually impossible to get any information out of the country, yet Mitrokhin continues and finally manages to make contact with the West, promising them the information in return for getting him out of Russia.

This is a deeply researched book, with details taken from Mitrokhin’s own writings, from files and interviews with people who knew him directly, and covers a multitude of subjects – Mitrokhin’s own life story and attempt to escape, the history of post revolutionary Russia through the 20th century, the politics of and relationship between the secret services in the UK and US, even the occasional interlude to follow the progress of a young KBG man named Vladimir Putin as he works his way up the hierarchy.

Somehow, though, Corera manages to include all this information and still have a book that reads at the pace of a spy thriller. The old saying that truth is stranger than fiction is very apt here as the true story is as tense and immersive as any novel, each chapter ending on a cliffhanger and impossible to put down. His background as a journalist is also very helpful as he tells the story with all the relevant background and shows clearly how the Russia of today is affected by its past. It’s a superb read, entertaining, exciting and informative all the same time. Highly, highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

A fact-filled story of an ordinary man, driven by his love for his country.

The Spy in the Archive is the story of how an introverted archivist ended betraying his country, having become disillusioned by the ruling party in Russia. Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin was an archivist for the Soviet Union's KGB, who defected to the United Kingdom in 1992. As the in-house archivist for the KGB, the secrets he was exposed to turned him first into a dissident and then a spy, a man determined to expose the truth about the forces that had subverted his beloved Russia.

The book, told in a flowing narrative, is split into three "Acts" - covering the period from 1992 to 2000. We learn about Mitrokhin - his birth and early years, and his love for Russia. We also learn about how Russia evolved from the USSR under Stalin to Putin's Russia. Over the course of this book, the motives that drove Mitrokhin become unclear - was it his love for Russia, or his hatred of the regime that prompted his actions? The man spent years preparing for his defection, before being extracted by MI6, to the UK. He then spent further time assimilating and preparing over forty volumes of documents for publication. We read of his dismay as Russia continued to develop under Putin, moving further away from his view of how things should be. The author has certainly done a good job of painting a picture of a quiet man, slowly grew disillusioned with what was happening to his country. The one thing missing, perhaps, is a more detail of Mitrokhin's life as a KGB operative.

The story closes in 2000, just after Putin becomes president of Russia, and Mitrokhin is living in London. Clearly he is a man still troubled yet driven by his actions.

The author, an experienced journalist, never met Mitrokhin, but did have lengthy conversations with his friends and colleagues, who provided insight into the deeply private and unassuming man. This certainly shows in the reading, and is probably what lifts this book above the dry and dreary tale it could have been.

The book includes copious endnotes and a 16 page index - clearly the author has done his research, making this an interesting story of a quiet, introverted man who just wanted to do the right thing.

I can't figure out who the audience of this book is? Is it those who know a lot about the period and spy craft? Because there's too much explanation. Is it for those curious about the period and spy craft? If so, then explain who the key players are and why this old information is relevant.
I enjoy Cold War spy stuff but the artificial suspense was extremely annoying. I also have no idea who these people are, but find the places where there explanations tedious- I know what a dead drop is, and am familiar with the little codes, etc.
I'm sure the story is fascinating but the way it's written is deeply off putting.

This story is absolutely astonishing. It reads like a thriller and more than once I found myself holding my breath wondering what was going to happen next. It’s the true story of an unexceptional man. He’s an archivist in the KGB library and as such, is privy to secrets. He’s singular and increasingly disillusioned by the Soviet State and that leads to a life changing decision. The story is so well written, it’s difficult at times to believe it’s true. Loved it.

Whilst somewhat interesting, it felt as though the author of this book was being paid per word as the story was delivered in a very slow and heavy manner, and would’ve been better suited to being half the length it was. The backbones of the story were interesting, but as a reader I felt I had to wade through much unnecessary bumf to see the storyline progress, rather than being evenly paced like other biographies and epic novels

A fascinating look at personal responsibility and conscience, and how and why a person might change sides. At times the prose was a little dense but the overall narrative was very interesting.

This was an amazing book, more amazing because it is true. Really well written and engaging, it gave a fascinating insights into the political history of the time and a man's bravery and obsession. Would make a great film. Highly recommend.

This is a competent telling of the life, work and motivations of the former KGB officer and Archivist Vasili Mitrokhin and includes a compelling account of how MI6 exfiltrated the entire Mitrokhin family unit from Russia via Lithuania and Sweden, which is based on new research by the author.

Quite often, the motivations of defectors are peculiar, not very noble, and sometimes of the moment, in that something upsets them and they defect pretty swiftly, or at least at the first opportunity thereafter.

Mitrokhin is interesting because he not only spent decades preparing for his defection whilst still serving in the KGB (which he saw as the “Cheka” unchanged in its essentials since the revolution and in some ways contiguous with the Czarist secret police): he then spent seven further years working on the material he had obtained to make it understandable (or so he hoped) to people who mattered. After his defection, he spent the last years of his life doing further work on the huge volume of highly secret and important material he brought with him. (Not all highly secret material is actually important: the other thing which sets Mitrokhin apart from most other defectors is that he was highly selective, knew what things to take and which to ignore and remained sufficiently disciplined to keep doing that, day after day till years ran into decades. He selected the good stuff, but he appears to have also managed to take a very high proportion of ALL the good stuff and not just one or two choice treasures that he happened across.)

The motivation required for that sort of effort is extraordinary and the study of it is one of the most important things which the author does with this book.
Mitrokhin loved Russia, all his life, in its entirety. He believed that Russia’s natural wealth should be respectfully exploited only for the benefit of all its people, and he believed that the Russian people should be exploited or oppressed by no-one. He was not a Bolshevist and, whilst the author paints him as a Russian nationalist with a vague spiritual angle, Mitrokhin resembles the “Diggers” of 17th century England as much as anything else. He certainly saw the Orthodox Church as being corrupted by the Cheka (Mr Putin has since corrupted it even more thoroughly) and his horror at the way the cult of informers corrupted (and still corrupts) Russian society is also strongly reminiscent of the dissident Protestants, such as Georg Elser and Sophie Scholl, in NAZI Germany.

There are two other strands to his motivation. One of these, his fury not at what the Cheka did to him (he was one of them, after all!) but what they made him do to innocent people, ties in with his seeing life and freedom as sacred. As does his determination to use his long-planned defection to secure better medical and social care for his handicapped son. The Soviet Utopia, even when mitigated by a “captured” Orthodox Church, would have had no more place for an imperfect child than the Nazi Arcadia. And Putin certainly has not the slightest use for those not strong enough to send into battle!

In his lifetime, Mitrokhin’s dream of using the truth about the Cheka to free the Russian people from its grasp went unrealised, due largely to the unwillingness of the Free World to let go of its pipe-dream of a Cheka-led Russia as a cooperative partner in the new world order. (Whilst the Cheka never actually held total power in the Soviet Union, it does hold total power in Russia today.) But Mitrokhin’s truth still exists: it has been published in the West even as it remains unread in Russia. Time may be short, but there is still time for that truth to slay the Cheka.