An Economist Book of the Year. An i Paper Book of the Year. Longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction. A page-turning history of the KGB's deepest-cover spies in the West.
In 2010, two decades after the Cold War had ended, ten Russian spies were arrested in America. They had hidden their true identities from their friends, their neighbours — even their own children. They were part of a spy programme that had begun nearly a century earlier.
These deep-cover missions — some remarkable feats of espionage, others high-profile failures — could last for decades. Posing as ordinary citizens of the countries they were sent to infiltrate, the illegals built lives, raised families, and waited for orders from Moscow that might come tomorrow or in twenty years. As Moscow continues to deploy illegals across the globe today, this hidden history has never been more urgent.
Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews and newly-discovered archival material, The Illegals by veteran Guardian correspondent Shaun Walker is a page-turning tour de force, shining new light on the long arc of the Soviet experiment and its messy aftermath — and on how that hidden history continues to shape Russia and the West.
Praise
"One of the most compelling and perceptive books on intelligence of the past decade." — The Economist, Best Books of 2025
"A brilliant historical investigation that's as gripping as a Le Carré novel." — Tom Burgis, author of Kleptopia
"Absolutely fascinating." — Andrew Marr
"Thrilling … grabs you by the lapels from the very first page." — The Spectator
"A gripping account of the agents who lived in the West under the deepest of covers. Walker makes the sparkling most of an outlandish cast of characters." — The Sunday Times
"Shaun Walker has written a spying classic." — David E. Hoffman, author of The Billion Dollar Spy
"Walker delves into the deepest levels of espionage where even spies fear to tread." — Joe Weisberg & Joel Fields, Executive Producers of The Americans
About the author
Shaun Walker is a senior international correspondent for The Guardian. He was the paper's Moscow bureau chief from 2013 to 2019, and has reported from Russia, Ukraine, and the post-Soviet space for over two decades. He is the author of The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past.
