 "Lost in the Details" | 2008-08-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A116SLBOE7AY3R |
Oh dear. This guy has read about 27 too many Russian novels.
The author sifted through a sea of jumbled information about one of the craftiest characters in the long history of espionage, and produced, well, another sea of jumbled information. After three paragraphs in any chapter, it's not clear what or whom he's talking about -- or even why.
Less detail and more careful analysis and supposition would have been MOST helpful, thank you.
I'm about to stop reading, give up, and stick with the TV series. |
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 "Scholarly but irresistible reading" | 2006-10-24 |
| - Reviewed By odileographer |
| Richard Spence's research is astounding in its depth. Although this is in some ways a very "scholarly" work and demands effort on the part of the reader, it's worth it. It's obvious that no easy or pat answers to the mystery of Sidney Reilly are possible....and any book that pretends otherwise is just another red herring being dangled before the gullible. |
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 "Attempting the impossible" | 2006-07-29 |
| - Reviewed By User: A26ZJKJG766WWS |
| In the end, Sidney Reilly has the last laugh. He spent a lifetime covering his tracks, weaving a trail of deception and misinformation intended to obscure every aspect of his personal history and career. Spence takes on the noble task of trying to sift through the voluminous, vague, and usually contradictory material about this character. Unfortunately, almost nothing can be said with certainty about Reilly. We are unsure of his real name, place of birth, parentage, marriages...and those are just the biographical details. His work was obviously and carefully kept clouded. The author assembles as much data as one will probably ever find on this subject. He tries to be objective. However, the end result is a compilation of information mixed with supposition and conjecture. Yet, it is doubtful if anyone could have done more than Spence given the nature of the subject. In the end, we are not even sure if Reilly died as legend holds or if he lived on in mystery. No one will ever accurately chronicle the life of this remarkable enigma wrapped in a riddle...and that is exactly how Sidney Reilly wanted things to be. |
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| "Seems like good scholarship, but not much fun" | 2005-11-03 |
| - Reviewed By alath45 |
| It is obvious that Richard Spence is a diligent researcher and he did a great deal of homework for this book. The result is an exhaustive (and exhausting) compilation of Sidney Reilly's activities and associations over the course of his career. Unfortunately this wealth of information is not really drawn into any themes or any kind of coherent narrative. Some of the "Reilly myths" are convincingly de-bunked, but there's not much on offer here to replace them. This might be a helpful work for the history scholar looking for names, dates, and places associated with Sidney Reilly but it isn't much fun for the armchair history buff. |
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 "Popped my bubble about Reilly" | 2005-09-29 |
| - Reviewed By mbroski23 |
| I bought this after watching the BBC miniseries on Sidney Reilly. Spence has produced a very scholarly book written in a friendly tone. While I still view the Ace of Spies (the series, not the man) with affection and admiration, this book demonstrates that Reilly's life was much more complex than the BBC series made out. While not wanting to give too much away, I'll just say, watch the series, then read the book. |
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| "Publisher's Response to Smear" | 2005-04-14 |
| - Reviewed By feralhouse |
I wonder why a character who calls himself "Borwall" has attempted to discredit professor and author Richard Spence and his book and promote a competing book by one Mr. Cook.
From "Borwall's" comments I really have to wonder whether he actually read TRUST NO ONE himself. He definitely didn't read it very carefully because in the list of things cited as the author's cardinal errors and misinterpretations, he manages to misrepresent what is actually said.
For instance, author Richard Spence does not argue that Trust was a great Soviet achievement; exactly the opposite is the case. While Spence theorizes that elements in British intelligence sought to use Trotsky for their purposes, and vice versa, that's hardly the same as presenting him as a tool of capitalist restoration. Re Hill and Boyce's ambiguous loyalties, and the Radkevichs, Spence stands by his sources and conclusions. "Borwall" repeatedly tosses off phrases such as "absolute and complete lies" in attacking the author's views or "quite sure" in advancing his own, but in neither instance does he reference the slightest evidence to support these sweeping assertions. In the absence of a reasoned and factual rebuttal, he resorts to cheap shots of innuendo, ad hominem attack, and unsubstantiated claims of superior knowledge.
Finally, speaking of cheap smears, author Spence is not an agent of the KGB or its successors or, for that matter, a freemanson or tool of the Elders of Zion. Likewise, the folks at Sovershenno Sekretno would be very surprised to see themselves labeled a "KGB paper."
Adam Parfrey
Feral House |
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| "Sordidly Engaging!" | 2004-07-11 |
| - Reviewed By jayebeldo |
| Out of a deck stacked with double agents, drawing the 'Ace of Spies', has been a most fortunate turn of hand for author/researcher Richard Spence . In his book Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly published by Feral House, the featured spy's penchant for mercurial subterfuge, not to mention his agility in terms of maintaining multiple as well as charming identities are impressively articulated through Spence's compelling research. Reilly's resume of cozenage, sordid and otherwise, would certainly attract the interest of the Transational Corporations currently our world. They would probably hire Sidney on the spot and let him conduct their gun running errands carte blanche. Such intriguing possibilities make reading Trust No One a most worthwhile endeavor, for the author allows us into a world not easily accessible through the mainstream. Most fascinating are the descriptions of Reilly's ability to simultaneously hobnob with personae found in Tsarist Russia such as Rasputin to far flinging fascist elements found in Italy, America and elsewhere, punctuating his shady dealings, primarily in arms, with incendiary love affairs, art collecting and socializing with such notable celebrities as Rudolfo Guglielmi otherwise known as Valentino, Aleister Crowley and others of shadowy ilk. I recommend this book for any fan of international liasons and the runners who make them happen. (...) |
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 "No One to Trust" | 2004-03-16 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
'In the end, despite an impressive display of names, dates, and events involving Reilly, the outcome is such a bewildering mix of lies and half truths that even Prof.Spence is forced to conclude with an admission that Reilly's "entrance and exit from this world are equally shrouded in mistery." The same can be said of the time in between', writes in his review of Richard Spence's book Hayden Peake, a leading international expert, and he also adds that 'Cook (the author of the On His Majesty's Secret Service--ed) appeares to be better documented.'
Hayden Peake, No 1 CIA literary authority, is very diplomatic. Spence's book is a clear failure, which stands out as if commissioned by the Russian intelligence services. So there is no surprise that Vladimir Abarinov, one of the online reviewers and at the same time the US correspondent of the Sovershenno Sekretno, a KGB Russian newspaper, speaks so high about Dr Spence's work. In January 2003 Mr Abarinov wrote a huge, multipage review of the book praising the author, which was published in three consequent editions of his Moscow newspaper. No surprise: Richard Spence helps the KGB/SVR/FSB to promote the following:
1) operation TRUST was a great achievement of the OGPU;
No comment, better read Andrew Cook's book.
2) British capitalists were preparing to organize overthrow of the Bolsheviks, and Trotsky was their paid agent;
Absolute and confirmed lies.
3) Reilly was betrayed by his former SIS colleagues Ernest Boyce and George Hill, who were the OGPU agents;
There is no proof found until now that either Boyce or Hill ever worked for the OGPU. One can be quite sure, however, that both gentlemen had never been the OGPU agents. Hill later served as a SOE liaison in Moscow during the WWII.
5) Maria Zakharchenko and Georgy Radkevich were OGPU agents;
Not true. Zakharchenko and Radkevich were ROVS Gen.Kutepov's envoys. Both were later killed during attacks on the OGPU buildings.
In addition, not all the names of those KRO officers who took part in the TRUST are named by Spence, though he could easily find out as in 2000 Russia published a collection of commemorative stamps showing six principal actors, from Artuzov to Syroezhkin who managed to lure BOTH Savinkov and Reilly to Russia. There are many others, as Roman Birk, for example, who also took part and about whom KGB prefers not to speak (he later studied in Vienna and worked undercover in Berlin). Spending so many years on the research, Professor Spence could definitely produce better results. 'Overall,' remarks Hayden Peake in this review, published in the Studies in Intelligence,'the 500 pages of this book do more to show how little is reliably known about Reilly than how much.' So why should one bother reading the staff? |
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| "A MONUMENTAL EFFORT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH" | 2003-02-17 |
| - Reviewed By nylawman3 |

The serious student of intelligence history will appreciate the exhaustive research that author
Spence put in to his revealing story of "The Ace of Spies," Sidney Reilly, (Born Salomon
Rosenblum, Poland).
A Professor of History at the University of Idaho, Spence has provided a density of detail that
one seldom encounters in an espionage biography. But, that density is a two edged sword. On
the one hand, the academically oriented will relish the microscopic facts from fantasy discussion
of Reilly's life and world. On the other hand, those seeking more drama and less detail may find
Trust No One, a rather slow going read.
Spence often conjectures where facts are absent, but his "maybe" and "perhaps" offerings add
to the mystery that was Sidney Reilly, without subtracting from the author's monumental efforts
at ferreting out the truth of the man who trusted no one.
In reading this new biography of an old spy, we see the world of finance, oil, espionage and
war is not very different today than it was in the early years of the last century-only the
technology has improved. The international stew of greed, double dealing and conflicts of interest
which made up the main course of Sidney Reilly's diet, is still being served up hot on today's
international menus. |
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| "Reilly's life finally uncovered" | |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Many books have been written about Sidney Reilly and his activities. Nearly all are based on hearsay or his on stories. Finally there's book about Reilly which ends all unnecessary legends around him and bring us the facts. Richard B Spence's Trust no one is without a doubt the best book that is written about the controversial man. Trust no one is a fascinating story about a man who seemed always to be at the center of politics, espionage, clandestine business, money, power, wild love life and so on. There are so many details in the book that is nearly confusing. Mr. Spence has used lot of new material in his book and he tells the story the way i like. He has done a great job in gathering all the facts and making them to one, logical story without the Reilly hype. This is a must read for everybody who is interested in history or intelligence. Where are all the Reillys of today? He's sure no role model but at least he had the warrior instinct. |
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