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Title details for The Terminal Spy by Alan S. Cowell - Available

The Terminal Spy

A True Story of Espionage, Betrayal and Murder

by Alan S. Cowell
Simon Vance
Audiobook
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In a page-turning narrative that reads like a thriller, an award-winning journalist exposes the troubling truth behind the world’s first act of nuclear terrorism.
On November 1, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko sipped tea in London’s Millennium Hotel. Hours later the Russian émigré and former intelligence officer, who was sharply critical of Russian president Vladimir Putin, fell ill and within days was rushed to the hospital. Fatally poisoned by a rare radioactive isotope slipped into his drink, Litvinenko issued a dramatic deathbed statement accusing Putin himself of engineering his murder. Alan S. Cowell, then London Bureau Chief of the New York Times, who covered the story from its inception, has written the definitive story of this assassination and of the profound international implications of this first act of nuclear terrorism.

Who was Alexander Litvinenko? What had happened in Russia since the end of the cold war to make his life there untenable and in severe jeopardy even in England, the country that had granted him asylum? And how did he really die? The life of Alexander Litvinenko provides a riveting narrative in its own right, culminating in an event that rang alarm bells among western governments at the ease with which radioactive materials were deployed in a major Western capital to commit a unique crime. But it also evokes a wide range of other issues: Russia's lurch to authoritarianism, the return of the KGB to the Kremlin, the perils of a new cold war driven by Russia's oil riches and Vladimir Putin's thirst for power.

Cowell provides a remarkable and detailed reconstruction both of how Litvinenko died and of the issues surrounding his murder. Drawing on exclusive reporting from Britain, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the United States, he traces in unprecedented detail the polonium trail leading from Russia's closed nuclear cities through Moscow and Hamburg to the Millenium Hotel in central London. He provides the most detailed step-by-step explanation of how and where polonium was found; how the assassins tried on several occasions to kill Litvinenko; and how they bungled a conspiracy that may have had more targets than Litvinenko himself. 
With a colorful cast that includes the tycoons, spies, and killers who surrounded Litvinenko in the roller-coaster Russia of the 1990s, as well as the émigrés who flocked to London in such numbers that the British capital earned the sobriquet “Londongrad,” this book lays out the events that allowed an accused killer to escape prosecution in a delicate diplomatic minuet that helped save face for the authorities in London and Moscow.

A masterful work of investigative reporting, The Terminal Spy offers unprecedented insight into one of the most chilling true stories of our time.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 5, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415957103
      • File size: 410783 KB
      • Duration: 14:15:47

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The November 2006 poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko in London drew headlines around the world as investigators tried to learn what was slowly killing the 44-year-old former Russian agent. Cowell's story digs deeply--sometimes almost too deeply--into the background of Litvinenko and assorted associates. Simon Vance has a clear British accent, and he varies his voice ever so slightly when quoting one of the assorted spies, politicians, and businessmen who spin their way into Litvinenko's life. Listeners expecting tales of James Bond-like escapades will be disappointed; Litvinenko was simply a soldier who rose in ranks--until he questioned authority. The book's highlights are its focus on radioactive materials and a key account of an attempt on a spy's life decades earlier. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      December 15, 2008
      On November 1, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian émigré and former intelligence officer vocal in his criticism of Vladimir Putin, was poisoned at the Millennium Hotel in London. Pulitzer® Prize-nominated journalist Cowell covered the story while working as London bureau chief of the New York Times. His step-by-step approach here leads to a certain amount of repetition, detracting from what might otherwise have been a more powerful dramatic presentation. Narrator Simon Vance (www.simonvance.comLJ 11/15/08) adeptly pronounces the Russian names and places. Recommended for public libraries. [Also available from Random House Audio (NA CDs. retail ed. abridged. NA hrs. ISBN Gloria Maxwell, Metropolitan Community Coll.-Penn Valley Lib., Kansas City, MO

      Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 2, 2008
      The 2006 poisoning of the former KGB agent turned dissident Alexander Litvinenko by radioactive polonium captured the world’s imagination. In this less than crystalline account, New York Times
      London bureau chief Cowell plays up the spy-thriller intrigue. Building Litvinenko almost into a miniseries protagonist—he was “usband, father, traitor, whistleblower, son, spy, lover, fugitive”—Cowell recaps his career as a KGB functionary and then critic of Russia’s postcommunist kleptocracy; his relationship with tycoon Boris Berezovsky; his exile in London’s murky Russian expat community and outspoken attacks on Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he denounced, from his deathbed, as his killer. Cowell’s analysis of the crime and the investigation, especially his retracing of the tell-tale trail of polonium, is repetitive and often confusing. He characterizes the murder sometimes as a brazen act of “nuclear terrorism” intended to restart the Cold War, sometimes as a careful, surreptitious hit. The question of whodunit—Putin? Berezovsky? vengeful KGB veterans? Russian businessmen exposed by Litvinenko’s private sleuthing? to protect the Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, of all people?—flounders inconclusively among competing conspiracy theories. Cowell relishes the mystery of the case, but doesn’t dispel it.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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