The story of murdering Litvinenko is as nail biting as a thriller and helps to understand how the Russian state sponsored terrorism works. ( )

Sheds more light on Russia than many history books. ( )

Does for Putin's Russia what Say Nothing did for The Troubles. Reads like a thriller, not least because the true story is so astonishing. Highly recommended. ( )

Luke Harding is a reporter for The Guardian who has lived in and reported from Russia and written about the Litvinenko murder since it happened in 2006. This is an in-depth retelling of events, up to nearly the present.

The murder takes place early on in the book and it feels like a thriller, not surprising since Arthurt Conan Doyle is a favorite author of one of the Russian killers. The poison used is the rare periodic element polonium (atomic number 84) estimated to have cost over 15 million dollars to manufacture for a few grams. It was enough to kill 50 million people. Because it gives off alpha instead of beta radiation only the military has detectors and it might have been the perfect crime. However British sleuths finally figured it out and the whole evil plot exposed with all evidence pointing back to Putin. This was the legal finding by the top British court.

Litvinenko was killed because he had information linking Putin to organized crime. He was a threat to the Russian mafia state. The Litvinenko story is something of a classic in modern espionage and this is probably as good a book you will find on it. It's also damned unsettling the Putin regime can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime and get away with it. ( )

Fascinating, terrifying and page-turning story of the murder of Alexander Litvenenko, a Russian dissident and Putin critic poisoned by polonium. It's a great follow up to general books about Putin- an indepth case study of just exactly what he's capable of. Buckle up. ( )