The British writer Ben Macintyre has made an illustrious career of taking dusty government archives and transforming them into propulsive nonfiction thrillers ... He has done it again ... The book’s last pages are its saddest.
Mesmerising ... It is his insightful portrayal of the shifting relationship between the two spies — part mutual exploitation, part something akin to friendship — that powers Redwood and holds the attention through the complexities of its political context ... Chiefly its author’s triumph. Topical in its subject matter, deft in its depiction of the Polaroid colours of Tehran of the time, it is also a masterclass in the ethics of espionage. Above all, it brings to life the strains and responsibilities, the emotions and passions and inspirations — the eternally human concerns — of the spy’s world.
