Very Expensive Poison: The Definitive Story of the Murder of Litvinenko and Russia's Threat to the West - Brossura

Harding, Luke

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1783350938 ISBN 13: 9781783350933

Casa editrice: Faber And Faber Ltd., 2016

Riassunto

1 November 2006. Alexander Litvinenko is brazenly poisoned in central London. Twenty two days later he dies, killed from the inside. The poison? Polonium; a rare, lethal and highly radioactive substance. His crime? He had made some powerful enemies in Russia. Based on the best part of a decade's reporting, as well as extensive interviews with those closest to the events (including the murder suspects), and access to trial evidence, Luke Harding's A Very Expensive Poison is the definitive inside story of the life and death of Alexander Litvinenko. Harding traces the journey of the nuclear poison across London, from hotel room to nightclub, assassin to victim; it is a deadly trail that seemingly leads back to the Russian state itself. Harding argues that Litvinenko's assassination marked the beginning of the deterioration of Moscow's relations with the west and a decade of geo-political disruptions - from the war in Ukraine, a civilian plane shot down, at least 7,000 dead, two million people displaced and a Russian president's defiant rejection of a law-based international order. With Russia's covert war in Ukraine and annexation of the Crimea, Europe and the US face a new Cold War, but with fewer certainties. This is a shocking real-life revenge tragedy with corruption and subterfuge at every turn, and walk-on parts from Russian mafia, the KGB, MI6 agents, dedicated British coppers, Russian dissidents. At the heart of this all is an individual and his family torn apart by a ruthless crime.

Su questo libro

Recensione

An expert chronicle of a sensational but opaque crime, and of the terrifying lawlessness it epitomised. Enthralling. (A.D. Miller, author of Snowdrops)

This extraordinarily pacy book - I downed it in two sessions - by the Guardian's former Moscow correspondent is one of the best political thrillers I have come across in years. It is also a wonderful guide to criminality and power in today's Russia - Boris Godunov pals up with the Cosa Nostra, as it were. (Evening Standard)

Harding, a former Moscow correspondent for The Guardian, tells this ghastly tale with real authority, wit and panache ... The book is as "definitive" as it claims, though "national security" means that the MI6 aspect of the story will never emerge. It is not only Russia that needs a change. (The Times)

Gripping ... Harding doesn't overcook the metaphor, but Mayfair and all it represents is portrayed here as something potentially, maybe inherently toxic. When does a soft power aimed at attracting investment start to undermine real power? (Peter Pomerantsev London Review of Books)

Pacy and impassioned ... Harding paints deft portraits of the tragi-comic duo suspected of carrying out the crime. (New Statesman)

A Very Expensive Poison reads like a John Le Carré spy novel, but shockingly it's all true. Luke Harding has followed the criminality of the Putin regime from Russia to the West and his story leaves us with terrible feeling of dread about what Putin will do next. (Bill Browder, author of Red Notice)

When Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned, the media speculation was frenzied. Yet, even the most fevered journalistic fantasy failed to come close to the truth. Luke Harding lays out every detail of his murder, connecting it in thrillerish detail to the dark undercurrents of life in today's Russia. (Oliver Bullough, The Last Man in Russia: And The Struggle To Save A Dying Nation)

This book convincingly shows that the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 was state-sponsored murder. Luke Harding has written a story that is horrific, instructive and, at times, hilarious. He is a masterful storyteller and an impeccable researcher. (Federico Varese, author of The Russian Mafia)

Luke Harding has been reporting on this story for years, hunting down key witnesses and digging for new evidence. As a result, he has managed to provide the most thorough and vivid reconstruction of Alexander Litvinenko's assassination. (Andrei Soldatov)

Descrizione del libro

The shocking true story of the Litvinenko poisoning, told by the author of The Snowden Files and Wikileaks.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Faber And Faber Ltd.
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1783350938
• ISBN 13: 9781783350933
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 304
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile