Owen Matthews Livres

The new novel from a master of the Cold War thriller . . . 'This is Robert Harris storytelling territory' Daily Mail 'Outstanding' Sunday Times 'Tense, exciting and authentic' Charles Cumming, author of Judas 62 'Stunning' The Times 'Brilliantly plotted' John Sweeney, author of Killer in the Kremlin 'A standout thriller' Financial Times 1963. In a desolate Russian penal colony, a radio broadcasts news of the killing of President John F. Kennedy . . . Alexander Vasin's new posting as director of a brutal gulag camp is far from a promotion. This is where disgraced KGB officers are sent to disappear, quietly, and forgotten. But when a violent revolt breaks out, Vasin must decide- run or die. So he runs. With him goes a mysterious prisoner - an individual who might hold the key to an extraordinarily dangerous secret- the identity of who really ordered Kennedy's assassination. Racing from bleak Siberian wastelands to the grey streets of Soviet Moscow, Vasin needs to stay one step ahead of the most ruthless intelligence organization in the world in order to keep the most wanted man in Russia alive. And with his loyalty, morality and patriotic duty tested to the limits, he will face the ultimate choice- fall in line, or die fighting the system . . . Weaving together a critical moment in history with the cut-throat machinations of Soviet politics, this tautly told, nail-bitingly atmospheric novel is a superb Cold War thriller.

'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 . . .

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PUSHKIN HOUSE PRIZE'The most formidable spy in history' IAN FLEMING'His work was impeccable' KIM PHILBY'The spy to end spies' JOHN LE CARRBorn of a German father and a Russian mother, Richard Sorge moved in a world of shifting alliances and infinite possibility. In the years leading up to and during the Second World War, he became a fanatical communist - and the Soviet Union's most formidable spy. Combining charm with ruthless manipulation, he infiltrated and influenced the highest echelons of German, Chinese and Japanese society. His intelligence proved pivotal to the Soviet counter-offensive in the Battle of Moscow, which in turn determined the outcome of the war itself. Drawing on a wealth of declassified Soviet archives, this is a major biography of one of the greatest spies who ever lived.

An untold chapter of America's past, a fascinating insight into a centuries- old love story, Glorious Misadventures is an expansive history of Russian colonization from Guardian Award-shortlisted author Owen Matthews.

For fans of Red Sparrow and Child 44 comes a chilling and cinematic thriller set in 1961 in one of the most secretive locations in Soviet history. Ten days before the test of largest nuclear device in history, a KGB officer must investigate the murder of one of the architects of the bomb, and unravel a conspiracy that could set the world on fire. It is the dawn of the 1960s. In order to investigate the gruesome death of a brilliant, young physicist, KGB officer Major Alexander Vasin must leave Moscow for Arzamas-16, a top-secret research city that does not appear on any map. There he comes up against the brightest, most cut-throat brain-trust in Russia who, on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev himself, are building the largest nuclear bomb ever created. RDS-220 is a project of such vital national importance that, unlike everyone else in the Soviet Union, the scientists of Arzamas-16 are free to think and act, live and love as they wish...as long as they complete the project, and build the most powerful nuclear device ever known. With intricately plotted machinations, secrets and surveillance, corrupt politicos and puppet masters in the Politburo, and one devastating weapon, Owen Matthews has crafted a timely, terrific, and fast-paced thriller set at the height--and in the heart--of Soviet power.

On a midsummer day in 1937, Boris Bibikov kissed his two daughters goodbye and disappeared. One of those girls, Lyudmila, was to fall in love with a tall young foreigner in Moscow at the height of the Cold War and embark on a dangerous and passionate affair. Decades later, a reporter in nineties Moscow, her son Owen Matthews pieces together his grandfather's passage through the harrowing world of Stalin's purges, and tells the story of his parents' Cold War love affair through their heartbreaking letters and memories. Stalin's Children is a raw, vivid memoir about a young man's struggle to understand his parents' lives and the history of the strange country in which they lived.

An astonishing investigation into the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war - from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol.

Britsko-ruský novinár a spisovateľ Owen Matthews preniká do zákulisia konfliktu, ktorý rozpútalo Rusko na Ukrajine, počnúc chodbami Kremľa až po zákopy v Mariupole. Rusko-ukrajinská vojna je najvážnejšou geopolitickou krízou od čias druhej svetovej vojny, no napriek tomu jadro konfliktu ostáva záhadou. Vladimir Putin sa zmenil z vypočítavého diktátora na hazardného hráča, čím vystavil svoj režim a samotné Rusko riziku zničenia. Prečo? Owen Matthews čerpá informácie zo svojho dvadsaťpäťročného novinárskeho pôsobenia v Moskve a vezme čitateľov na cestu do histórie k otráveným koreňom konfliktu, ako aj do obdobia pandémie covidu-19, keď skrsol Putinov plán invázie poznamenaný paranojou hrozby zo Západu. Kniha Invázia je plná svedectiev súčasných aj bývalých dôverníkov Kremľa a jeho propa-gandistickej mašinérie a zajatých ruských vojakov, ktorí podávajú správy o Rusku i o tom, čo sa deje na Ukrajine. Vďaka nim sa Matthews snaží odhaliť príčiny vypuknutia vojny a zároveň rozpráva o tom, čo sa dialo počas prvých šiestich mesiacov od invázie. Panoramatický pohľad na dôvody a potenciálne dôsledky vojny je výnimočným a nepre-hliadnuteľným záznamom konfliktu, ktorý otriasol celou Európou.

Stalin's Children. Izvestnyj britanskij zhurnalist Oujen Mjet'juz - napolovinu russkij, i imenno o svoih russkih kornjah on napisal jetu knigu, stavshuju mirovym bestsellerom i perevedennuju na 22 jazyka. Mjet'juz uchilsja v Oksforde, a posle rabotal reporterom v gorjachih tochkah - ot Jugoslavii do Iraka. Znachitel'naja chast' ego kar'ery svjazana s Rossiej: on mnogo pisal o Chechne, rabotal v The Moskow Times, a nyne vozglavljaet moskovskoe bjuro zhurnala Newsweek. Rasskazyvaja o dramaticheskoj sud'be treh pokolenij svoej sem'i, Mjet'juz delaet osobyj akcent na neobyknovennoj istorii ljubvi ego roditelej. Ih roman nachalsja v 1963 godu, kogda otec Oujena Mervin, priehavshij iz Oksforda v Moskvu po studencheskomu obmenu, vljubilsja v doch' rasstreljannogo v 37-m kommunista, Ljudmilu. Sovetskaja sistema i vsesil'nyj KGB razluchili vljublennyh na celyh shest' let, no samootverzhennyj i neutomimyj Mervin cenoj ogromnyh usilij i zhertv dobilsja triumfa - antisovetskaja ljubov' vostorzhestvovala.

Boomtown Moskau der neunziger Jahre: Fasziniert und abgestoßen zugleich schaut PR-Manager Lambert zuerst von außen in die Abgründe dieser Welt aus Kommerz, Drogen und Luxus. Dann verliebt er sich in die schöne Sonia und wird, ohne es zu wollen, zum dostojewskischen Helden. Ein literarischer Thriller der Extraklasse. Hier ist alles größer, gewaltiger, opulenter als das, was er bisher kannte: Als der Brite Lambert 1995 in Moskau eintrifft, fühlt er sich wie auf Safari im postsowjetischen Dschungel. Ob es die eisigen Winter oder die überhitzten Partys, die Kaviar- und Wodkamengen, die großen Autos oder die marmorgetäfelten Metro-Stationen sind: Wer kann, säbelt sich ein möglichst großes Stück vom Kuchen ab. Wer nicht, hat Pech gehabt. Klar, Lambert ist hierhergekommen, um das richtige Leben zu spüren. Aber wie alle Ausländer lebt er in einer Parallelwelt, die nicht nur von schönen Nataschas bevölkert wird. Sondern auch von ebenso charismatischen wie hundsgemeinen Verbrechern. Im letzten Moment will Lambert seine moralische Integrität zurückgewinnen, aber da ist es bereits zu spät ... „Ein fesselnder Kenner der russischen Seele, eine Mischung aus Dostojewski und Bret Easton Ellis.“ Le Point