Redwood. By Ben Macintyre. Crown; 416 pages; $35. Viking; 464 pages; £25
《红杉》。本·麦金太尔著。皇冠出版社；416页；35美元。维京出版社；464页；25英镑。
VLADIMIR KUZICHKIN, a KGB(苏联国家安全委员会) spy who defected(叛逃) to Britain after a harrowing(令人痛苦的) escape from Iran in 1981-82, asked for two things: a horoscope and a circumcision(割礼，此处指男性包皮环切). “Recruiting a vetted circumciser had been hard enough,” writes Ben Macintyre, a historian, but “locating a security-cleared astrologer was impossible”.(历史学家本·麦金太尔写道：“招募一名经过审查的割礼师已经够难了，但要找到一位通过安全审查的占星师，根本不可能。”)
弗拉基米尔·库济奇金是一名克格勃间谍，1981至1982年间从伊朗惊险逃脱后叛逃英国。他提出了两个要求：一份星象图和一次割礼。历史学家本·麦金太尔写道：“招募一名经过审查的割礼师已经够难了，但要找到一位通过安全审查的占星师，根本不可能。”
“Redwood” is the gripping(扣人心弦的) tale of Kuzichkin’s recruitment into MI6(英国秘密情报局). (“Redwood” was his code name.) It is Mr Macintyre’s latest true-life spy thriller: earlier narratives have looked at Kim Philby(剑桥五杰之一，双面间谍), an MI6 officer who defected to the KGB, among others. It succeeds, like his other books, in melding spies’ psychology with an up-close look at the tradecraft of espionage.(与他的其他作品一样，本书成功地将间谍心理与对谍报技艺的近距离观察融为一体。) Each of his protagonists has helped turn the cogs of history(推动历史齿轮) at a pivotal(关键的) moment.
《红杉》讲述了库济奇金被军情六处招募的扣人心弦的故事。（“红杉”是他的代号。）这是麦金太尔最新的真实间谍惊悚作品：此前的著作曾讲述过金·菲尔比——一名叛逃至克格勃的军情六处官员——等人的故事。与他的其他作品一样，本书成功地将间谍心理与对谍报技艺的近距离观察融为一体。他笔下的每一位主人公都曾在历史的关键时刻推动过历史的齿轮。