Book description
ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • The definitive history of Russia’s most secret spy program, from the earliest days of the Soviet Union to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and a revelatory examination of how that hidden history shaped both Russia and the West.
More than a century…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Illegals as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I loved this book by Shaun Walker.
While not a novel, this tale reads like one and is a marvelous account of the training, development, and deployment of the USSR’s and Russia’s greatest illegals, many of whom could easily inhabit the finest spy novels ever written. Walker writes about the early inter-war illegals, as well as the later World War II and Cold War illegals, and their colorful lives and personalities, as well as those of their ruthless masters.
I appreciated Walker’s ability to explore the psychological and hidden costs of such work, and the toll which it takes upon…
From Kenneth's list on spy thrillers read in one sitting.
If you love The Illegals...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like The Illegals?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Illegals.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,381
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Illegals, you might also like...
The Pet-Sit
A decades-old secret. A missing woman. A private investigator with everything to prove.
Newly minted PI Paula Moore takes on her first case: find Marion Taylor, who vanished from Portsmouth, England, years ago. Paula’s search leads her across the ocean to San Francisco—only to discover Marion has changed her name,…
Somewhere Else
Merri Melde has spent over two cumulative years of her life traveling, answering to an inexplicable need to see the world, to experience different adventures, cultures, people and places.
Taken from her travel journals, Somewhere Else features some of her backpack travels in Nepal, where she trekked the Annapurna Circuit;…
