"Macintyre has produced more than just a spy story. He has written a narrative about that most complex of topics, friendship. . . . When devouring this thriller, I had to keep reminding myself it was not a novel. . . . [Macintyre] takes a fresh look at the grandest espionage drama of our era."
--Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review "
A Spy Among Friends is the latest in Ben Macintyre's series on twentieth-century espionage. All are superb, and
A Spy Among Friends is no exception. Macintyre gives the familiar story of Philby new life."
--Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker "Macintyre does here what he does best--tell a heck of a good story.
A Spy Among Friends is hands down the most entertaining book I've reviewed this year."
--Boston Globe "Macintyre is a superb writer, with an eye for the telling detail as fine as any novelist's. . . .
A Spy Among Friendsis as suspenseful as any novel, too, as the clues tighten around Philby's guilt."
--Dallas Morning News "By now, the story of British double agent Harold 'Kim' Philby may be the most familiar spy yarn ever, fodder for whole libraries of histories, personal memoirs and novels. But Ben Macintyre manages to retell it in a way that makes Philby's destructive genius fresh and horridly fascinating."
--David Ignatius, The Washington Post "A crisply written tale of a classic intelligence case that remains relevant more than fifty years later."
--USA Today "
A Spy Among Friends is extensively researched, well-written, and a terrific read. . . . An absolutely captivating book."
--Christian Science Monitor "Vivid and fascinating."
--Newsday "[Macintyre] deserves full credit for delivering this complex, continent-hopping tale with clarity. . . . The result is, in every sense, a class act. A-."
--Entertainment Weekly "Excellent . . . I was thoroughly engrossed in this book, beginning to end. It has all the suspense of a good spy novel, and its characters are a complex mix of charm, eccentricity, intelligence and wit. And it offers a great--and mostly troubling--insight into the behind-the-scenes workings of those we entrust with the most important of our political and military secrets."
--HuffPost "Riveting . . . Mr. Macintyre [is] a shrewd and masterful chronicler."
--Washington Times "Working with colorful characters and an anything-can-happen attitude, Macintyre builds up a picture of an intelligence community chock-full of intrigue and betrayal, in which Philby was the undisputed king of lies. . . . Entertaining and lively, Macintyre's account makes the best fictional thrillers seem tame."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
