The story of the improbable friendship between two Cold War spies, CIA case officer Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko, as well as an exploration of the distinctions between the Russian and American methods of conducting espionage and the painful birth of the new Russia, whose leader, Vladimir Putin, dreams he can roll back to the ideals of the old USSR.
Russo...and Dezenhall...weave an engrossing tale ... This book adds knowledge to recent works such as Jack Barksy's Deep Undercover and Eva Dillon's Spies in the Family ... Highly recommended for those who miss the show The Americans and others who immerse themselves in intelligence intrigue.
The fact that neither [writer] is a historian brings a certain freshness to their narrative. Fast-paced and lively, Best of Enemies is suitable for the general reader with an interest in Cold War espionage, although its chatty tone and the authors’ evident admiration for their subjects can become tiresome ... Best of Enemies can be read as a lament for a world in which mutually assured destruction brought a strange kind of stability ... That world is long gone, leaving in its wake something much more perilous.
A rollicking tale of Cold War espionage ... Russo...and Dezenhall...offer a well-researched account ... Russo and Dezenhall aptly capture this complex narrative, based on its protagonists’ long-classified recollections, though the focus on their outsized personalities can be repetitive. An unusual, entertaining story of steadfast friendship amid governmental treachery.
