'Readers will find themselves as gripped as they would by the very best of Fleming or Le Carré.' The Sunday Times

In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, a small band of British spies was smuggled into Soviet Russia on an undercover mission of vital importance.
They were tasked with thwarting Lenin’s Bolshevik-Islamic plot to topple British India and the Western democracies. 
The British spies were self taught and well versed in dirty tricks. Over the next three years, they would be involved in murder, deception and duplicity on a grand scale. Living in disguise - and constantly switching identities - they would infiltrate Soviet commissariats, the Red Army and Cheka (secret police), and would come within a whisker of assassinating Lenin. The pinnacle of their achievement was to unpick Lenin’s plot for global revolution. Their work was to have an unexpected consequence, one that continues to influence our lives today.
Drawn from previously unknown secret documents held in the Indian Political Intelligence archives, Giles Milton gives a remarkable insight into the murky world of espionage, murder and deception that took place inside post-revolutionary Russia.
UK edition available: Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | 
American edition available: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | 

REVIEWS

'Milton has synthesised and filleted a mass of material - old memoirs, official archives and newly released intelligence files - to produce a rollicking tale... which explains the long war against Russia with verve, wit and colour. It reads like fiction, but it is, astonishingly, history.'  Michael Binyon, The Times.

'Readers will find themselves as gripped as they would be by the very best of Fleming or Le Carré.’ Josh Glancy, 

Sunday Times.

'Milton is a compulsive storyteller whose rattling style ensures this is the antithesis of a dry treatise on espionage. And unlike 007, it's all true.' The Daily Express.

‘A terrific story told with Milton’s customary fluency and eye for detail.’ The Mail on Sunday.

'With this marvelous, meticulously researched and truly ground-breaking account of British spies working in Lenin’s stripling Soviet Union, Giles Milton - with his best book so far - reminds us of a time when the spying game was dangerous, fun and even, dare one say it cool - way cooler than the dreary digital mechanics of today’s NSA.' Simon Winchester, author of The Men Who United the States and The Professor and the Madman.

'Just when it seemed there were no more rousing espionage stories left to tell, along comes Giles Milton with Russian Roulette. With his customary panache and originality, he weaves an astonishing account enlivened by a remarkable cast of characters.' Laurence Bergreen, author of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe.

'Milton’s team of spies survived their missions [and] his chronicle of their secret war reads not only like a nail-biting thriller, but a success story… he’s helped by a cast of colourful characters whose real-life exploits are a Bond novel beyond Ian Fleming’s wildest dreams.' Nigel Jones, History Today.

'This chronicle of British undercover push back against Bolshevik world conspiracy proves to be an exciting ringside seat at the Russian Revolution. A beguiling ride through a riotous time by a historian and able storyteller who knows his facts and his audience.' Kirkus starred review. 

'Their stories of derring-do are certainly the stuff of vintage spy novels and Giles Milton does them full justice.' Business Standard.

'Impressive...[an] entertaining history of spectacular, often nasty derring-do by real-life secret agents.'  Publishers Weekly

'Replete with cloak-and-dagger details…Milton’s vivid presentation will entertain aficionados of intelligence.'  Booklist



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