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The Springing of George Blake
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 28, 2020
Relying a lot on my memory for this one as I read it many, many years ago. My copy, which I picked up from a remainder sale for next to nothing!, is a Viking hard cover first published in 1970.
Without passing comment on the pros and cons of George Blake's life, I found this a riveting read back then and like most escape from prison stories, this one is filled with loads of suspense and gripping turn of the page excitement.
The author Sean Bourke was also the instigator of George Blake's amazing escape from London's Wormwood Scrubs prison in October 1966 where Blake was serving forty-two years after being charged for acting as a double agent for both the MI5 and the KGB for nine years and effectively blowing the cover of the entire Western network of agents in Europe.
The escape and Blake's subsequent asylum in Russia was so incredible that the British thought it had been the work of the KGB. But it was the singlehanded work of the 32 year old Irishman who Blake had befriended in prison and had been paroled the previous year.
Bourke had no interest in politics but thought Blake's sentence was too harsh and mixed with his likeness for the spy and his own hatred of the police, carried out the daring operation with 700 pounds of borrowed money. He eventually followed Blake to Moscow, where the spy revealed his true malevolent character. Despite being a pampered "guest" of the KGB and finding love with an Intourist guide, Bourke began seeing himself as being conned and that he had lost his cherished freedom.
Bourke's return to the West and the recovery of the manuscript of this book, which had been confiscated by the Soviets, make a fitting climax to an astonishing true-life adventure and ls written in a colorful natural Irish prose.
Now that George Blake has died at the ripe old age of 98, it is well worth noting that this true life crime/spy saga is deserving of some attention for those wanting an exhilarating read.
Review based on original Viking Press hardcover edition 1970. 364 pages plus 8 pages of photographs.
Without passing comment on the pros and cons of George Blake's life, I found this a riveting read back then and like most escape from prison stories, this one is filled with loads of suspense and gripping turn of the page excitement.
The author Sean Bourke was also the instigator of George Blake's amazing escape from London's Wormwood Scrubs prison in October 1966 where Blake was serving forty-two years after being charged for acting as a double agent for both the MI5 and the KGB for nine years and effectively blowing the cover of the entire Western network of agents in Europe.
The escape and Blake's subsequent asylum in Russia was so incredible that the British thought it had been the work of the KGB. But it was the singlehanded work of the 32 year old Irishman who Blake had befriended in prison and had been paroled the previous year.
Bourke had no interest in politics but thought Blake's sentence was too harsh and mixed with his likeness for the spy and his own hatred of the police, carried out the daring operation with 700 pounds of borrowed money. He eventually followed Blake to Moscow, where the spy revealed his true malevolent character. Despite being a pampered "guest" of the KGB and finding love with an Intourist guide, Bourke began seeing himself as being conned and that he had lost his cherished freedom.
Bourke's return to the West and the recovery of the manuscript of this book, which had been confiscated by the Soviets, make a fitting climax to an astonishing true-life adventure and ls written in a colorful natural Irish prose.
Now that George Blake has died at the ripe old age of 98, it is well worth noting that this true life crime/spy saga is deserving of some attention for those wanting an exhilarating read.
Review based on original Viking Press hardcover edition 1970. 364 pages plus 8 pages of photographs.
April 10, 2016
Not the most pleasant or enjoyable prose to sift through, but this is understandable considering that the memoir comes from someone with little to no schooling at all. Bourke was a lifelong miscreant, screw-up, and truant so I take this autobio to have had large assistance from some kind of ghostwriter, in order to have come about.
The result is a mildly fascinating true-life account of how a prison break in England can be successfully undertaken by even the crudest mentality. These were not hi-tech individuals involved in this escape plot; (the whole scheme relied on nothing more than a simple rope ladder).
The human story over most-of-the-way is plodding, tedious, moribund, & dismal: filled with characters who are little more than drudges and lowbrows. The dialog is preposterous in most places, wince-worthy.
Overall: following this clumsy simpleton (Bourke) as he carries out the 'greatest triumph' in his (pathetic) life is a trudge, but it's just worth sticking with for possible nuggets of technical info as the pair will eventually vanish into the mists of the East. The singularity of the defection story here alone commends itself to the conscientious researcher of East/West relations. How many escapes from Wormwood Prison had you ever heard about before you just read this review?
The result is a mildly fascinating true-life account of how a prison break in England can be successfully undertaken by even the crudest mentality. These were not hi-tech individuals involved in this escape plot; (the whole scheme relied on nothing more than a simple rope ladder).
The human story over most-of-the-way is plodding, tedious, moribund, & dismal: filled with characters who are little more than drudges and lowbrows. The dialog is preposterous in most places, wince-worthy.
Overall: following this clumsy simpleton (Bourke) as he carries out the 'greatest triumph' in his (pathetic) life is a trudge, but it's just worth sticking with for possible nuggets of technical info as the pair will eventually vanish into the mists of the East. The singularity of the defection story here alone commends itself to the conscientious researcher of East/West relations. How many escapes from Wormwood Prison had you ever heard about before you just read this review?
May 20, 2010
Famous British spy who defected to the then Soviet Union
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews