Comrade J, Pete Earley
Comrade J, Pete Earley
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Comrade J
The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War

Author: Pete Earley

Narrator: Michael Prichard

Unabridged: 10 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/07/2008


Synopsis

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.

About Pete Earley

Pete Earley is a mental health advocate, journalist, and New York Times bestselling author of fiction and nonfiction books, including The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness. A former Washington Post reporter, Earley has appeared five times before the U.S. Congress to testify about the need for mental health reform, has spoken in forty-nine states, and addressed legislators in four foreign countries. He serves on the board of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, which finances projects to eliminate homelessness. He writes regularly for USA Today and the Washington Post about mental health issues.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Grant

Rather than spying daring-do, for me the best part of this biography was seeing the Tretyakov gradually lose his faith in Russia under the kleptocracies of Yeltsin and Putin. All spies and defectors seek to justify their actions to themselves and others, but Tretyakov's disgust at the oligarchs who......more

Goodreads review by Al

An interesting readable book on a Soviet Spy based in Ottawa and New York who ended up defecting to America. I quite enjoyed the read as Earley can keep the reader engaged, all anecdotes were interesting. Most amusing was his fellow officer thinking the part of town they lived in was really bad sinc......more

Goodreads review by Mark

This book builds up with a certain cloudy suspense that keeps you thinking, "hey this is about to get really great!", but sadly it never delivers. Honestly it gets worse as the book progresses. Sergei Tretyakov's tales starts out strong with his induction into the KGB and all of the in home spying t......more

Goodreads review by Erik

I'd previously read Earley's books on Aldrich Ames and the Walker spy family, both of which were also quick and easy reads which should please anyone interested in contemporary espionage. This one, being about a former Russian citizen, rests on a weaker evidential footing than the others, reliant as......more

[URL not allowed] This book, about the career of Russian spy Sergei Tretyakov before his defection to the US, was strongly recommended to me by someone who said that its portrayal of how intelligence agents handle contacts was scrupulously accurate (and my source is in a posi......more