An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent

What would one do for their country? What ultimate sacrifice would you be willing to make in service to your motherland? Richard Sorge’s role as a spy who penetrated German and Japanese intelligence, and his eventual demise for doing so, illustrated his ultimate sacrifice for Russia. Sorge emerged from affluent beginnings in Baku, possessing German and Eastern European heritage. Service to his country beckoned him; he was wounded three separate times fighting for Germany during World War I. In the wake of the war and a rebuilding of Europe, Socialism emerged as a strong political ideology. Sorge was taken in and soon joined the Comintern. He was recruited to garner intelligence, but his spendthrift ways rubbed bureaucrats the wrong way. Soon, Sorge split with Comintern and joined the Red Army’s 4th Department. Undercover as a journalist, Sorge would cultivate an impressive spy ring that would generate reams of intelligence, but as internal power plays ran amok in the Soviet Union, Sorge faced deadly consequences at home and abroad.

An Impeccable Spy reads similar to the compelling espionage mysteries from John Le Carre and others. Author Owen Matthews narrates the life of famed spy Sorge in a compelling manner, highlighting the good, bad, and ugly of Sorge’s life. Sorge is viewed as a tragic hero, flawed but loyal to his country, even when his country appeared to turn on him. A masterful biography.