Sixty years after Boris Nicolaevsky wrote his account of the notorious Ievno Azef — the most infamous police agent to ever infiltrate a revolutionary organisation — Richard E. Rubenstein took a crack at the same…Read more…

Last year, I read Thomas Mullen’s Blind Spots, a novel set in the near future with an intriguing premise. I enjoyed it, and looked forward to reading The Rumor Game. This book is set in…Read more…

I admit it: I like reading books about ageing, life extension, and immortality. These seem to fall into two categories. Some authors expect to live forever because of the vitamin cocktails they drink every morning…Read more…

Aidan McQuade’s first novel, The Undiscovered Country (2020), was a bit of a hybrid — part crime novel, part history of Ireland in the period just after Partition. It was terrific because McQuade is both…Read more…

I read this book, the first in the series of 13 novels about the late 19th century Russian detective Erast Fandorin, when it first appeared some twenty years ago. I remember little about the plot,…Read more…

This is one of those books where saying who the writer was is contentious. It was initially published anonymously. Later, the exiled Russian Menshevik writer Boris Nicolaevsky was listed as the author. Nicolaevsky always claimed…Read more…

Geoffrey Roberts is a leading expert on Soviet history and chose a really interesting take on Stalin’s life with this book. His starting principle seems to be that whatever else Stalin was (e.g., a monster)…Read more…

I heard this author interviewed on the Professor Buzzkill podcast recently and loved what she had to say, especially about medieval Europe. Her book is good and entertaining. But she avoids controversy, not really dealing…Read more…

Earlier this year I read and reviewed “Damascus Station” by former CIA officer David McCloskey. I thought it a competent thriller and enjoyed it. I looked forward to reading the second book in the series,…Read more…

This book got a surprisingly good review from The Guardian and as one who likes to read the occasional personal productivity / self-help books, I thought – why not give the Terminator a go? Here’s…Read more…

Moshe Lewin was certainly one of Lenin’s admirers. Though this short book is anti-totalitarian and sympathetic to Trotsky, it is surprisingly uncritical of Lenin on key issues. But it is clear from reading it that…Read more…

Sebastian Faulks is a brilliant writer. His First World War novel Birdsong might even be a masterpiece. But his most recent book is, sadly, a dud. It’s a near-future science fiction story full of cliches…Read more…