With a life and a character as fascinating, colourful, eventful as this, it is no surprise there are not only a plethora of books about Sidney Reilly but at least one television series - and what is more, films of a whole genre inspired by this character, and his style.
That the James Bond character was created based on this legendary man is the least of the enigma, so fascinating is the figure of this man veiled in mystery.
Born in Russia before revolution, his birth was another mystery, with an established well known wealthy family but a natural father so high up in hierarchy that when at one point he - the son - was assigned the job of toppling the Soviet government he was plausibly the intended figure to lead the revolt and take over in the name of a regime closer to the old monarchy.
He lived during a most turbulent time of history of Europe and the world, and while spying for more than one nation was also a businessman with flair, wealth he created and style he lived in attracting attention and more. He worked for various nations including Britain and Germany, with intrigues that had repercussions on Russia, Japan, Britain, Germany, and more.
Whatever one can find about such a figure of mystery is worth a look.
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And that was what one thought before reading this book, which is very different in spirit from some of the other works about him, the others being more towards what one wrote then, quoted above.
This work by Andrew Cook, however, is more of a dissection of the legend and attempt to debunk all the mystery and the glory attached, if not outright denouement. Cook does not write a biography or even tell a tale as much as he attempts to dissect all the stories about Reilly, quoting carefully assembled evidence of papers and cables, letters and more, which finally amounts to a "not this, not that" but leaves one with very little except confusion - was Cook trying to destroy the mystery and the legend, deliberately, and to what purpose, since it does not provide a clear picture at all finally?
He does take into account the point about Reilly being a spy for some if not much of the time, and his having created a mystery about himself from the very beginning, with various stories - but only in that he mentions it all painstakingly, in midst of all the debunking of various legendary tales.
Surprisingly enough the one detail he is careful enough to mention is about Reilly having been sent for his final journey into Russia by deceit, by Boyce; this was someone who was supposedly working for the British intelligence, but as it turned out decades later, was a double agent and trapped Reilly deliberately sending him to his death - and that Reilly did not budge despite the best efforts of the captors, and did not give away any details they were not likely to know already or that could have been very important to them. In this he tacitly and almost openly admits Reilly having been the valiant figure as seen by most, after having shredded him through the book relentlessly.
After all, if Reilly was only after his own interests, clearly he would't have gone so silently to his certain death, just to protect the various people and organisations working against the Bolsheviks, which was after all then Russian government, would he? Far more profitable for a profiteer and selfish person to make a deal with his captors to the effect of turning into their agent, for example, and leaving Russia for a cosy life in Britain, surely? His manner of death as described by Cook ironically belies all Cook denounces him for.
The deceit of Boyce, and the fleeting mention of Kim Philby, in the context of this finale, makes one wonder about the author. One wonders fleetingly, having finished the book, whether this strenuous shredding of Reilly until the final chapter when his conduct post his capture exonerates him, is due to a casteist view taken by the author - after all, the repeated disdainful mention about his claiming to be a British national born in Ireland while in reality looking like a Russian Asiatic with Jewish and Mongolian features, does not escape notice. One wonders if this is why Reilly is being debunked in this work while the real double agents who conceivably did much to damage British and allies interests get but a mention at the end.
Or did Cook write shredding the Boyce, Philby and co too?
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Ace of Spies: The True Story of Sidney Reilly (Revealing History)
by Andrew Cook
Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly
by Richard B. Spence
Sidney Reilly: The True Story of the World's Greatest Spy
by Michael Kettle
Britain's master spy;: The adventures of Sidney Reilly;
by Sidney Reilly
Reilly: The First Man
by Robin Bruce Lockhart
Ace of Spies
by Robin Bruce Lockhart
German Spies: Carl Von Ossietzky, Juan Pujol, Mutt and Jeff, Sidney Reilly, Fritz Joubert Duquesne, Alexander Parvus, Kurt Frederick Ludwig.
Inter-War Spies: Sidney Reilly, Gertrude Bell, St. John Philby, Boris Bazhanov, Erich Mielke, Yakov Blumkin, Ernst Wollweber.
Agent Double: Henri Déricourt, Aldrich Ames, Mata Hari, Anthony Blunt, Kim Philby, Sidney Reilly, Mathilde Carré, Ion Mihai Pacepa.
Japanese Spies: Sidney Reilly, List of Japanese Spies, 1930-45, Patrick Stanley Vaughan Heenan, John Semer Farnsworth, Akashi Motojiro.
Pre-World War I Spies: Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Sidney Reilly, Mansfield Smith-Cumming, William Melville, Claude Dansey.
1870s Births: Sidney Reilly, Father Divine, Ma Barker, Albert Sharpe, Clayton Teetzel, Greenbrier Ghost, Auda Ibu Tayi, Charles de Saulles.
Espion de La Première Guerre Mondiale: William Somerset Maugham, St. John Philby, Mata Hari, Sidney Reilly, Louise de Bettignies.
James Bond: Sidney Reilly, James Bond Music, Bond Girl, Outline of James Bond, Gun Barrel Sequence, Inspirations for James Bond, James Bond Jr.
Double Agents: Mata Hari, Juan Pujol, Eddie Chapman, Mutt and Jeff, Donald Maclean, Sidney Reilly, Robert Hanssen, Radu Lecca, Aldrich Ames.
Espion Allemand: Wilhelm Canaris, Heinrich Von Kleist, Mata Hari, Reinhard Gehlen, Sidney Reilly, Violette Morris, Fritz Joubert Duquesne.
Reilly: Ace of Spies (TV Times special)
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2010
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