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Dead Doubles

The Extraordinary Worldwide Hunt for One of the Cold War's Most Notorious Spy Rings

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Dead Doubles

By: Trevor Barnes
Narrated by: William Gaminara
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Summary

 THE PORTLAND SPY RING was one of the most infamous espionage cases from the Cold War. People the world over were shocked when its exposure revealed the shadowy world of deep cover KGB 'illegals' - spies operating under false identities stolen from the dead.

The CIA's revelation to MI5 in 1960 that a KGB agent was stealing crucial secrets from the world-leading submarine research base at Portland in Dorset looked initially like a dangerous but contained lapse of security by a British man and his mistress. But the couple were tailed by MI5 'watchers' to a covert meeting with a Canadian businessman, Gordon Lonsdale. The unsuspecting Lonsdale in turn led MI5's spycatchers to an innocent-looking couple in suburban Ruislip called the Krogers.

But within weeks the CIA rang the alarm - their critical source of intelligence was to defect within hours - and MI5 was forced to act immediately. The Krogers were exposed as two of the most important Russian 'illegals' ever, whom the Americans had been hunting for years. And Lonsdale was no Canadian, but a senior KGB controller.

This astonishing but true story of MI5's spyhunt is straight from the world of John le Carré and is told here for the first time using hitherto secret MI5 and FBI files, private family archives and original interviews. Its tentacles stretch around the world - from America, to the USSR, Canada, New Zealand, Europe and the UK. DEAD DOUBLES is a gripping episode of Cold War history, and a case that fully justified the West's paranoia about infiltration and treachery.©2020 Trevor Barnes 20th Century Espionage Freedom & Security Historical Modern Politics & Government True Crime Soviet Union Russia Cold War United Kingdom Imperialism Military Portland
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Critic reviews

The definitive account of the famous Portland Spies - fascinating, detailed and completely gripping (Richard J Aldrich, author GCHQ)
I read DEAD DOUBLES with admiration...fascinating and meticulous...Using all available American, British and Russian sources, Trevor Barnes has produced a remarkable book (Harvey Klehr, co-author SPIES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE KGB IN AMERICA)
A highly readable account of a classic Cold War MI5 investigation. Assiduously researched and a real page-turner (Nigel West, author of MI5 and THE ILLEGALS)
Excellent and riveting, with a cast of characters as engaging as in any novel. Former KGB officer Vladimir Putin's modern-day Russia employs the same espionage methods now against the West. The themes of Dead Doubles - deception, betrayal, blackmail, chemical and biological weapons, atomic secrets, international rivalry - are as topical today as in the 1960s (John Sipher, Former Head CIA Russian Operations and CIA Station Chief in Asia and Europe)
A gripping and brilliantly researched history of the rise and fall of the Portland Spy Ring, which reveals much about the operations and personnel of Russian, British and American intelligence at the height of the Cold War (Christopher Andrew, author of DEFENCE OF THE REALM and THE SECRET WORLD)
An enthralling account of one of the last great spy mysteries of the 20th Century - I loved it (John Preston, author of A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL)
Dead Doubles will keep readers on the edge of their seats, turning its pages like a delicious spy novel. Its pace and wide scope of research take us into a hidden corner of Cold War England in the early 1960s (Katherine Sibley, author of FIRST LADY FLORENCE HARDING and RED SPIES IN AMERICA)
Reads like a le Carré thriller - only true. Rich in detail. A must read (Ray Batvinis, former FBI Supervisory Special Agent of Counterintelligence and author of Hoover's Secret War Against Axis Spies)
A rare combination of thrilling story and carefully documented history, the writing has a remarkable "you are there" quality that transports the reader back to the height of the Cold War (Nicholas Reynolds, former CIA Officer and author of NYT bestseller WRITER, SAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY)
An exemplary work of historical scholarship that is also highly entertaining, Dead Doubles is the definitive history of the Portland spy ring (John Earl Haynes, co-author of EARLY COLD WAR SPIES)
Gordon Lonsdale was a classic KGB illegal resident who never gave up his true name, background, or his agents' identity after his arrest and imprisonment, before he was exchanged for Greville Wynne. Even his memoirs, ghosted by Kim Philby, didn't answer these questions. But Trevor Barnes sets the record straight in his new book based on archival MI5 records and Russian sources. It is well written, thoroughly documented, and a most valuable contribution to the intelligence literature (Hayden B Peake, Colonel, Military Intelligence, USA, Ret.)
All stars
Most relevant
This is one of those stories that you may not have heard of if you weren't around at the time so if you weren't, I urge you to get this book. It is a fantastic story of espionage, intrigue and spying set in the late fifty's and early sixties.

On January 7th, 1961, five Soviet spies are arrested in London. The arrest makes headlines around the world. The spies are two British naval employees, one deep cover KGB officer and two American-born communists who have previously stolen secrets from the Manhattan Project.

Alerted by the CIA’s double agent in Moscow, MI5 have discovered the two British spies have been stealing valuable secrets from the top secret submarine research base at Portland, Dorset. The first, Harry Houghton, is an ex-Navy Master-at-Arms, the other, his mistress Ethel Gee, a filing clerk at the base.

The couple pass the secrets, in exchange for money, to a Canadian businessman, Gordon Lonsdale. Lonsdale gives the stolen secrets to an American couple living in the suburb of Ruislip in London called the Krogers, who take that secret information and transmit it to Moscow.

MI5 have to put a stop to this flow of top secret information from reaching Moscow and compromising Britain’s nuclear submarine programme but at the same time, uncover who is behind this web of espionage.

It sounds like the plot of a John LeCarre novel but it s all true. And the author Trevor Barnes puts it together fantastically. If you like books about spies or espionage, then this is truely the book for you.

I can highly recommend it!

Just an incredible story! A real page turner!

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It is hard to fault this book. Well structured, well paced and extremely well narrated made this a pleasure to listen.

Special mention should be made of the narrator, whose diction was extremely clear and his ability to drop into accents was seamless and credible.

A great book.

Absolutely fascinating history, great all the way to the end

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I really enjoyed this well researched story of real spies. It’s rich in character and detailed in events, but not ponderous. Written in a pacy style, it manages to read like a thriller at times. The narrative of events is supported by an occasional and useful social and political commentary which helps the younger reader understand the significant cultural and value differences of that generation. Highly recommend.

Excellent Storey of Real Spying

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An impeccably written book.
Possibly the best no fiction espionage book I’ve listened to - and I’ve been read them all.

Outstanding story telling

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The story is a fascinating one but isn't written with a historical balance. It's very much West is Good Soviet Bad mentality.

The narrator makes appalling attempts at accents which all seem to be something from a Jimmy Cagney gangster film. The normal narration is read in what can be best described as sounding like a Celia Imrey character (Miss Bab's maybe).Although off putting I stayed with it to the end.

Annoying Narration

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