Bestselling author Michael Smith's investigation into what makes the perfect spy and how the intelligence services induce ordinary men and women to spy for them

In this compelling investigation, author Michael Smith explores the critical moment in a spy’s life: that split-second decision to embrace a double life; to cheat and hide and hurt; to risk disgrace – even death – without any guarantee of being rewarded or even recognised. Each chapter centres on a number of different spies, following the path they took that led, finally, to the point of no return. Were they propelled by personal convictions? Blackmailed and left without a choice? Too desperate for money to think about the consequences? Through in-depth insider knowledge, Michael Smith also uncovers new and unknown cases, including a spy inside ISIS, President Trump’s links with Russia and Edward Snowden’s role as a whistle-blower, to offer compelling psychological portraits of these men and women, homing unerringly on the fault-lines and shady corners of their characters, their weaknesses and their strengths, the lies they tell other people, and the lies they always end up telling themselves.