Red Traitor
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  • Published: 31 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552178358
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $26.00

Red Traitor

Formats & editions
Paperback
31 May 2022
EBook
29 Jul 2021
Audiobook
29 Jul 2021
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From the author of acclaimed historical thriller Black Sun comes the claustrophobically tense, page-turner set during the Cuban Missile Crisis and based on a terrifying true story. . .

'This is Robert Harris storytelling territory and is told with equal panache and authenticity. There could be no higher praise.' Daily Mail

One the least known but most terrifying moments in modern history - when the fate of the world lay with a lone, nervous Soviet naval officer one hundred meters under the Caribbean sea - lies at the heart of this breathtaking new Cold War thriller from the author of the acclaimed Black Sun.

The year is 1962, and KGB Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasin is searching for ghosts: for evidence of the long-rumoured existence of an American spy embedded at the highest echelons of Soviet power. But it's while on this wild goose chase, a high-stakes espionage race against a rival State agency, that Vasin first hears whispers of an ominous top-secret undertaking: Operation Anadyr.

As tensions flare between Nikita Khrushchev and President Kennedy over Russian missiles hidden in Cuba, four Soviet submarines - each carrying tactical ballistic missiles armed with thermonuclear warheads - are ordered to make a covert run at the U.S. blockade in the Caribbean . . .
  • Published: 31 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552178358
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $26.00
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About the author

Owen Matthews

OWEN MATTHEWS worked as a war correspondent in Bosnia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq and Ukraine and was Newsweek magazine’s bureau chief in Moscow from 2006 until 2016. He has written several works of non-fiction including the critically-acclaimed Stalin’s Children and An Impeccable Spy. Black Sun is his first novel. He lives in Moscow and Oxford.

portrait photo of Owen Matthews

Also by Owen Matthews

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Black Sun
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Praise for Red Traitor

His feel for the period is a great pleasure to read. Russet October.

THE TIMES

This dynamic thriller skilfully weaves its story around one of the 20th-century's most tense moments, the Cuban missile crisis.

BBC HISTORY

A superlative follow-up to Black Sun . . . With some particularly tense scenes set inside submarines that put Tom Clancy to shame in their claustrophobic realism, you have a humdinger of a Cold War thriller . . . Gripping and unmistakably authentic.

Maxim Jakubowski, CRIME TIME

Tense, exciting and authentic. Every bit as good as Black Sun.

CHARLES CUMMING, author of Box 88

This is Robert Harris storytelling territory and is told with equal panache and authenticity. There could be no higher praise.

DAILY MAIL

Gripping . . . Cold War buffs will particularly enjoy the ride, though any reader who appreciates the finer points of espionage and foreign intrigue will also be well satisfied.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Superb . . . a real cold-war tale, much in the vein of a Tom Clancy, but with a degree of detail and conviction that grabs the reader and doesn't let go . . . if you like your thrillers realistic, accurate and impossible to put down, buy a copy today. You won't regret it.

SHOTS MAGAZINE

Matthews' excellent Cold War thriller . . . he writes knowledgeably about Moscow in Soviet times. the deadly rivalry between the KGB and GRU . . . the tension is real aboard the submarines . . . it's a terrific read.

CHOICE magazine 'Book of the Month'

A standout thriller . . . the story races along and Matthews' superb scene-setting . . . feels completely authentic.

FINANCIAL TIMES