The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal

A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year
 
It was the height of the Cold War, and a dangerous time to be stationed in the Soviet Union. One evening, while the chief of the CIA’s Moscow station was filling his gas tank, a stranger approached and dropped a note into the car. The chief, suspicious of a KGB trap, ignored the overture. But the man had made up his mind. His attempts to establish contact with the CIA would be rebuffed four times before he thrust upon them an envelope whose contents would stun U.S. intelligence. In the years that followed, that man, Adolf Tolkachev, became one of the most valuable spies ever for the U.S. But these activities posed an enormous personal threat to Tolkachev and his American handlers. They had clandestine meetings in parks and on street corners, and used spy cameras, props, and private codes, eluding the ever-present KGB in its own backyard—until a shocking betrayal put them all at risk. 

Drawing on previously classified CIA documents and on interviews with firsthand participants, The Billion Dollar Spy is a brilliant feat of reporting and a riveting true story of intrigue in the final years of the Cold War.

• A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
• The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy
• The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
• Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed
• Farewell: The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth Century
• Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer - The True Story of the Man Who Recruited Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames
• A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country
• The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB
• Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies
• In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies