Shaun Walker’s *The Illegals: Russia’s Most Audacious Spies and Their Century-Long Mission to Infiltrate the West* is a fascinating deep dive into Soviet and Russian espionage, focusing on undercover agents who lived abroad under false identities. Drawing on archival materials and interviews with former spies, Walker explores the successes and failures of these "illegals," from the early Bolshevik era to modern-day intelligence operations. With gripping real-life stories and sharp analysis, this book offers a compelling look at the shadowy world of espionage.

This was fascinating. It was compelling to read, finding the right balance for me between being informative and well researched, and entertaining for a general audience. I liked the focus on key 'illegals' throughout the 100 years of the department, as it helped to humanise the participants instead of holding them at arms length. Some of the missions were really audacious, such as the plot to kill Trotsky and the unsuccessful bid to kill Tito, but for the most part, a lot of the work seemed fairly mundane for the high level of risk. Overall, I enjoyed this an awful lot and it has really piqued my interest in the history of the Soviet Union as a whole.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Illegals is everything I want from a nonfiction book - informative, but still incredibly engaging and, at times, as gripping as a thriller. It reads with the pace and intrigue of a spy novel, yet it’s grounded in meticulous research and real-life stories that are often stranger - and more fascinating - than fiction.

I was completely absorbed by the accounts of the spies involved in the Illegals programme. Their lives were full of tension, secrecy, and moral ambiguity, and I found myself genuinely invested in their stories. The book does a fantastic job of tracing the development of the programme from its roots in the Soviet Union through to its modern incarnations, shedding light on just how far-reaching and carefully orchestrated these operations were.

Beyond the individual stories, I also felt like I came away with a much clearer and more nuanced understanding of Russian intelligence services and the mindset that has shaped them, both historically and in more recent decades. It gave me new insight into how deeply espionage is woven into Russia’s political identity, and how these legacies continue to shape international relations today.

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys espionage, Cold War history, or just well-written nonfiction that pulls you into another world. It’s a smart, compelling read that manages to be both educational and genuinely hard to put down.

What a fascinating insight into a little known world of subterfuge. Shaun Walker’s knowledge and research appears extensive and this reads like a fast paced thriller in parts. Most of us know little about the world of spies and spying, our knowledge shaped by the novels of Le Carré, Forsyth etc. This book gives real substance to that clandestine world and how it operates. It was a revelation to me to learn that the first infiltrations were as long ago as soon after the 1917 Russian revolution. I thought it was more recent as a result of the Cold War. The book looks at real people and how they operated under cover with legends, identities and patience to operate as sleepers within society. It’s a true eye opener and with recent revelations about Chinese covert operations, it’s potentially chilling to think and understand just how much intelligence is passed to what may be hostile governments. Really well written and truly amazing. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review audiobook. Narration throughout was excellent.

I heard so many good reviews of this book and was not disappointed! Walker has that rare gift of being able to combine historical accuracy with proper pacy storytelling. As a fan of the TV show The Americans, some of the story was not new to me but it was gripping and expertly told.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Goodreads.

I found this really fascinating. I choose to listen to this as I really enjoyed the tv series the Americans and wanted to learn more. This was so much more and I was fascinated by the early years around the Russian revolution in particular. I learnt a lot and it was very interesting.

*A big thank-you to Shaun Walker, Profile Books Audio, and NetGalley for a free audiobook in exchange for my honest thoughts.*
My first encounter with the idea of an illegal, albeit not with the noun itself, was while watching a series, mentioned in this book, Seventeen Moments of Spring, in which a Russian illegal, whose legend had been carefully prepared just after the 1917 Revolution, manages to become a top spy in Germany for the Soviet Russia before, during, and probably after WW2. The book offered by Mr Walker is insightful into the ways illegals infiltrated (infiltrate?) social strata of importance, especially in Europe and the US. I found the first part particularly fascinating, with the early days of illegals in operation, and I came to understand that the idea of living under cover and having several passports and 'lives' evolved, in a way, naturally due to revolutionaries' need to escape arrest and travel freely across Europe and Russia.
A highly recomended read for those interested in the world of spies.

Thanks to NetGalley and Profile Books Audio for the Audio ARC!

The Illegals is a fascinating look into the decades-long (and ongoing) program of Russian spies infiltrating Western nations, with the aim of getting into positions of power and influence and sending everything they learn back to the Russian government. The historical and modern-day examples that are detailed are intriguing and fascinating, and read like something out of a spy novel. Definitely worth reading if you are a fan of true crime, espionage, and the history of East-West relations.