The Man with the Poison Gun - by Serhii Plokhy Hardcover

About the Book

"In the fall of 1961, a KGB agent defected to West Germany. The slim 30-year-old man in police custody had papers in the name of an East German ... but claimed that his real name was Bogdan Stashinsky, and he was a citizen of the Soviet Union ... He had traveled on numerous occasions to Munich, where he singlehandedly tracked down and killed two enemies of the communist regime. He used a new, specially designed secret weapon--a spray pistol delivering liquid poison that, if fired into the victim's face, killed him without leaving any trace ... Stashinsky escaped ... and crossed into West Berlin just hours before the Berlin Wall was erected. In 1962, after spilling his secrets to the CIA, Stashinky was put on trial in what would be the most publicized assassination case in Cold War history"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In the fall of 1961, KGB assassin Bogdan Stashinsky defected to West Germany. After spilling his secrets to the CIA, Stashinsky was put on trial in what would be the most publicized assassination case of the entire Cold War. The publicity stirred up by the Stashinsky case forced the KGB to change its modus operandi abroad and helped end the career of Aleksandr Shelepin, one of the most ambitious and dangerous Soviet leaders. Stashinsky's testimony, implicating the Kremlin rulers in political assassinations carried out abroad, shook the world of international politics. Stashinsky's story would inspire films, plays, and books-including Ian Fleming's last James Bond novel, The Man with the Golden Gun.

A thrilling tale of Soviet spy craft, complete with exploding parcels, elaborately staged coverups, double agents, and double crosses, The Man with the Poison Gun offers unparalleled insight into the shadowy world of Cold War espionage.

Review Quotes

Kirkus Reviews: "With gusto and verve, Plokhy details Stashinsky's intelligence work.... A thrilling, well-researched tale of espionage that has all the spycraft hallmarks of a blockbuster movie.

Washington Times:
"A gripping work by Serhii Plokhy that is rich in the tradecraft with which Stalin's killers stalked opponents - as a matter of state policy."


Peter Finn, co-author of The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, andthe Battle Over a Forbidden BookA gripping portrait of an assassin and his journey from recruitment to mission to defection, The Man with the Poison Gun exhumes one of the Cold War's stranger episodes - the KGB's murder of Ukrainian man with a spray gun that squirted poison. Author Serhii Plokhy tells an evocative and informative tale, based on original archival research, that immerses us in the tradecraft of Soviet spies operating in Western Europe.

Publishers Weekly: [Plokhy's] gripping, well-researched account of Stashinsky's life illuminates a pivotal juncture of the Cold War.

About the Author

Serhii Plokhy is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. The New York Times bestselling author of The Gates of Europe and Nuclear Folly, Plokhy is an award-winning author of numerous books. He lives in Burlington, Massachusetts.