Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away

Journalist and author Hagedorn (Beyond the River; Savage Peace) has written another fast-paced historical account with themes of intrigue and prejudice. Here, she focuses on George Koval (1913–2006), born in the United States to a Russian Jewish family. Amidst virulent antisemitism, the family returned to Russia, and Koval studied chemistry in Moscow as a Soviet citizen. After the GRU (Soviet military intelligence) engaged and trained him, Koval returned to the United States in 1940 and became a U.S. army draftee and an agent who would “sleep” under cover until his activation by the Soviet Union. The reclusive Koval was the only Soviet military spy with security clearance on the Manhattan Project (he tendered information that accelerated the 1949 detonation of the Soviet A-bomb), but he lacked the notoriety of high-profile spies like Klaus Fuchs; he preferred to keep details of his life hidden. Hagedorn effectively tells how Koval returned to the Soviet Union in 1948 to live quietly and eventually receive posthumous recognition. This expertly researched, psychologically thrilling history makes good use of available primary sources, such as FBI reports, letters, and interviews, as well as secondary literature.