A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal

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.)