PositiveThe Christian Science MonitorSenior’s comprehensive account of perhaps the 20th century’s most famous spy ring focuses above all on the human cost of their betrayals ... Senior – a writer of historical fiction, a podcaster, and a book critic for The Times of London – acknowledges the appeal of communist idealism in Depression-era Britain ... But Stalin’s Apostles is not a sympathetic account ... Stalin’s Apostles offers a lively – if polemical – account of Stalin’s consolidation of a vast Soviet empire, and how a fire hose of secrets from the Cambridge Five aided his maneuvering.
MixedThe Washington PostLowe’s efforts to chronicle [the Four Days of Naples] rebellion...is among the book’s most outstanding contributions ... Lowe’s account is a useful companion, and occasional corrective, to the works of witnesses like Lewis, Malaparte and Burns. But their books are also among the finest about the war, so it’s no great knock on Lowe’s to say that it doesn’t fully measure up to theirs ... Much of the book’s criticism of the Allied administration is valid, but Lowe goes too far in charging that Allied leaders missed an opportunity to fundamentally remake Naples.
Elyse Graham
PositiveThe Washington PostGraham’s account is well-researched and scrupulously footnoted, but she also writes with a pulpy panache that turns the book into a well-paced thriller ... Flair keeps Book and Dagger briskly moving, though that same strategy can feel strained at times ... Well-told.
T D Allman
PositiveChristian Science MonitorIdiosyncratic but often lively ... The author’s style is at turns bombastic, entertaining, eccentric, and insightful. His writing, which verges on the baroque, sometimes spills over into overwrought. For fans, that is surely part of the charm, although it can be exasperating. There are also moments that call his rigor into question.
