Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook10 hours
Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War
Written by Pete Earley
Narrated by Michael Prichard
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Spymaster, defector, double agent-the remarkable true story of the man who ran Russia's post-cold war spy program in America.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, the cold war ended, and a new world order began. We thought everything had changed. But one thing never changed: the spies.
From 1995 to 2000, a man known as "Comrade J" was the highest-ranking operative in the SVR-the successor agency to the KGB-in the United States. He directed all Russian spy action in New York City and personally oversaw every covert operation against the United States and its allies in the United Nations. He recruited spies, planted agents, penetrated security, manipulated intelligence, and influenced American policy, all under the direct leadership of Boris Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin. He was a legend in the SVR, the man who kept the secrets.
Then, in 2000, he defected-and it turned out he had one more secret. For the previous two years, he had also been a double agent for the FBI: "By far the most important Russian spy that our side has had in decades." He has never granted a public interview. The FBI and CIA have refused to answer all media questions about him. He has remained in hiding. He has never revealed his secrets.
Until now.
Comrade J, written by the bestselling author of Family of Spies and The Hot House, is his story, a direct account of what he did in the United States after we all assumed the spying was over and of what Putin and Russia continue to do today. The revelations are stunning. It is also the story of growing up in a family of agents dating back to the revolution; of how Russia molded him into one of its most high-flying operatives; of the day-to-day perils of living a double, then triple, life; and finally, of how his growing disquiet with the corruption and ambitions of the "new Russia" led him to take the most perilous step of all.
Many spies have told their stories. None has the astonishing immediacy, relevance, and cautionary warnings of Comrade J.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, the cold war ended, and a new world order began. We thought everything had changed. But one thing never changed: the spies.
From 1995 to 2000, a man known as "Comrade J" was the highest-ranking operative in the SVR-the successor agency to the KGB-in the United States. He directed all Russian spy action in New York City and personally oversaw every covert operation against the United States and its allies in the United Nations. He recruited spies, planted agents, penetrated security, manipulated intelligence, and influenced American policy, all under the direct leadership of Boris Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin. He was a legend in the SVR, the man who kept the secrets.
Then, in 2000, he defected-and it turned out he had one more secret. For the previous two years, he had also been a double agent for the FBI: "By far the most important Russian spy that our side has had in decades." He has never granted a public interview. The FBI and CIA have refused to answer all media questions about him. He has remained in hiding. He has never revealed his secrets.
Until now.
Comrade J, written by the bestselling author of Family of Spies and The Hot House, is his story, a direct account of what he did in the United States after we all assumed the spying was over and of what Putin and Russia continue to do today. The revelations are stunning. It is also the story of growing up in a family of agents dating back to the revolution; of how Russia molded him into one of its most high-flying operatives; of the day-to-day perils of living a double, then triple, life; and finally, of how his growing disquiet with the corruption and ambitions of the "new Russia" led him to take the most perilous step of all.
Many spies have told their stories. None has the astonishing immediacy, relevance, and cautionary warnings of Comrade J.
Author
Pete Earley
Pete Earley is a former Washington Post reporter, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books. He lives in northern Virginia.
More audiobooks from Pete Earley
Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness No Human Contact: Solitary Confinement, Maximum Security, and Two Inmates Who Changed the System Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Comrade J
Related audiobooks
Farewell: The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Catch a Russian Spy: The True Story of an American Civilian Turned Self-taught Double Agent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spymasters: How the CIA's Directors Shape History and Guard the Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia's Remaking of the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Assassin: How a Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down the Butcher of Latvia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ghosts of Langley: Into the CIA's Heart of Darkness Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Grey Men Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5At the Center of the Storm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kremlin Winter: Russia and the Second Coming of Vladimir Putin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cold War Exiles and the CIA: Plotting to Free Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Convenient Terrorist: Two Whistleblowers’ Stories of Torture, Terror, Secret Wars, and CIA Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Double Agent: The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCompany Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Director: My Years Assisting J. Edgar Hoover Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spymaster: The Life of Britain’s Most Decorated Cold War Spy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5True Believer: Stalin's Last American Spy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Widow Spy: My CIA Journey from the Jungles of Laos to Prison in Moscow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Audiobooks Recommended For You
Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wrong Place Wrong Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship of the Ring: Book One in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fourth Wing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5CATCH-22: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5