(Reviewed by Christopher J. Lynch)
Plenty of people love to read crime novels. Others are fans of true crime. Some tastes tend toward the spy thriller genre. But what about a true spy story?
The Illegals, by Journalist Shaun Walker, is the story of Russia’s century long foray into the world of undercover espionage by using “illegals” (undercover agents) around the globe. Designed to blend into societies as disparate as Eastern Germany, Britain, South America, the Middle East – and eventually, The United States, illegal agents were given extensive training in the languages, culture, and habits of the target countries.
Walker follows this program from its nascent beginnings during the Bolshevik Revolution, through the first and second world wars, the cold war, and up to and including the expulsion of illegals, Andrey Bezrukov (alias Don Heathfield) and Elena Vavilova (alias Tracey Foley), the couple that was one of the inspirations for the hit TV series, “The Americans”.
The writing is fresh, the pacing excellent and, as a seasoned journalist, the breadth and quality of Walker’s research is impeccable. And, as he spins the yarn of this audacious decades-long program, a through-line emerges into the Soviet/Russian mindset of paranoia and power that simultaneously holds an unbreakable grip on its leaders, and that most westerners will find hard to understand and appreciate.
