A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal

Instead of focussing solely on Philby and attempting to argue the traitor's psychology, Macintyre weaves a story of Philby and the ‘friends' (it seems unlikely that Philby's narcissism allowed him to view anyone as a friend) whom he cheated and betrayed in the name of the Soviet despots. Focussing thus makes the story all the more interesting. We'll never know the full extent of Philby's betrayal, but we do get to learn of some of the close relationships he ruined thus telling more of a story of the man than the countless numbers he sent to their deaths.

What a fascinating story. Better than any novel and scary that it is true.

Marvelously written; non-fiction that reads like a spy thriller. Because, well, I guess it was.

So I had never heard of Kim Philby before picking up this book, but apparently he was a Big Deal during the Cold War, as the most infamous of double agents playing an extremely long con that lasted from WWII well into the early 60s. This book frames his epic deception with a super English, super non-emotive, super Colin Firth bromance between Philby and a BFF/MI6 colleague/eventual nemesis, Nick Elliott.

Much is made of Britishness and MI6 and that whole Cold War espionage culture that has been so well fossilized in James Bond and John le Carre novels. Fun fact: Ian Fleming and John le Carre knew all these people! Mixed with them! It's a culture that feels very remote now, and the author, Macintyre, is pretty damning about how the “one of us”/good old boy networking kept all those fancy Englishmen blind to the duplicitous Philby for so, so long (30+ years!?!).

Much is also made of the rampant alcoholism in this culture; I swear, Macintyre mentions “they were super drunk” at least once a paragraph, and it's kind of amazing these spy folks kept anything secret, or anything under control, really. Super livers, I guess?

Philby himself is an interesting character, and his life did indeed have some really high drama, which not many of us can say. Err, I won't spoil it, but the climax of the book is - oh wow - exciting. Also, his infinite charm, his endearing stammer, his tweedy jackets and good looks just BEG to be performed by Colin Firth in some movie. (Funnily enough, Colin Firth kinda did play a Philby-esque traitor in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.)

Macintyre is a good writer but his material here feels a little thin. Rather than a conventional biography, this is more a biography of relationships. It also feels like most of the information has been developed from few sources.

I only wish the narrator had a posher accent.

I won this book on Goodreads and I wasn't very familiar with Kim Philby or the Cambridge Spy Ring before starting the book. The book is non-fiction but Ben Macintyre's has a storytelling writing style that increased my enjoyment of the book. In brief, Kim Philby, along with a handful of college friends all working for MI5 and MI6 during WWII were in fact spying for the Soviets. Philby is probably the most successful and most highly placed spy ever to have been uncovered on either side of the Iron Curtain and his spying lead not only to strategic wins for the Soviet Union but to the deaths of countless agents and pawns that he felt were a danger to the USSR. But the real story here is about his friendships and the way that he manipulated some very powerful people in both MI6 and the CIA. According to him, it was his ability to compartmentalize that allowed him to repeatedly betray his close friends while earning their unwavering loyalty. That is the part of the story that was most upsetting to me and made this book one that I couldn't put away easily. He considered himself as true to the ideals of Communism above all else but it seemed at many times that the high of getting one over on all these powerful people was the real draw for him. He's a cold, unfeeling, and I thought, unlikable person but a compelling character all the same. Fans of spy books and the Cold War period of history will especially enjoy this book.