The Billion Dollar Spy

Former Pulitzer Prize winner, David E. Hoffman, here undertakes to reveal the challenges and inner workings of the CIA in the Russian theatre during the Cold War. One of the their major successes, after numerous failed attempts to recruit and run spies, was Adolf Tolkachev, a Russian engineer, who, over more than a decade, brought out thousands of pages of research and development work being done by the Russians, saving the U. S. literally billions of dollars. Knowing from the outset that Tolkachev was eventually betrayed by a disgruntled CIA trainee does nothing to diminish the suspense of this historical narrative based on de-classified CIA materials. We are offered insights not only into the mind of Tolkachev, but also of several key players in Moscow station (CIA facilities housed in the U.S. Embassy) and in Washington, DC. The CIA operatives' worst enemy was ostensibly the ever-vigilant KGB, but sometimes was their own leadership. Fascinating reading for those interested in this era. Even though I missed the meeting because I was in Maine, I read this because it was the most recent selection of my other book group.There is a lengthy and favorable review of this book in the NYTimes.