David E. Hoffman, an American Pulitzer prize winning author, and former writer (now current editor) for the Washington Post, and author behind The Billion Dollar Spy, writes this book as if it was the script for the next Hollywood spy movie. The reader becomes immersed in the Cold War Era world of espionage, secrets, dramatic getaways, and stolen documents.

In a celebration of humanity, Hoffman contrasts the rise of technology with the ever crucial human element, exploring the juxtaposition between human intelligence and human vulnerability. He outlines Tolkachev’s strengths and weaknesses as a spy, weighing the positives and negatives of human emotion, ultimately convincing the reader that humanity is crucial to espionage, and human involvement can never be replaced by machinery. Technology is emotionless and can carry out tasks without human emotional error. Hoffman turns this argument on its head and praises Tolkachev for his drive and passion. Overall, this is a phenomenal book that I would recommend to any history buffs or anyone looking for a gripping and informative read.

The CIA had failed. The loss of agents Pyotr Popov and Oleg Penkonsky seemed to be the final nail in the coffin that was the CIAs involvement in the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R, and its intricate network of KGB agents and citizen spies made it one of the few places the United States had no intelligence. It was impenetrable, or so they thought.

When Adolv Tolkachev first approached the Americans, they were skeptical, fearing a KGB trap. Tolkachev, unfazed, studied the routes of American diplomat’s cars, stopping them to thrust a note through the window and run away. It took over a year and a half of these messages for the CIA to agree to meet with Tolkachev, as they feared another disappointment.

What Tolkachev brought to the CIA was far from despondency, but elation. After one year of Tolkachev’s involvement as an American spy the U.S Air Force reported that he had saved, in research and development costs, around 2 billion dollars.

The question then became why? Working as a traitor to your country was a dangerous job by any means, but betraying the Soviet Union and its ruthless cruelty was almost unimaginable. Tolkachev was, in his own words “a dissident at heart.” Drawing on the rage he felt for the treatment of his wife's parents by the Soviet government, Tolkachev bargained for money, books, rock music for his 14 year old son, and the “L Pill,” a suicide pill he requested in case he was caught.

Eventually, after a 7 year long career working with the U.S, Hoffman’s work was revealed to the KBG by ex-CIA officer Edward J. Howard and he was executed. In memory, the CIA hung a painting of Tolkachev and his Pentax 35mm camera, forever memorializing The Billion Dollar Spy.