Bridge of Spies

This is the true story of one of the most dramatic and mythologized moments of the Cold War - the famous spy swap in Berlin. "Bridge of Spies" is a gripping, entertaining, hair-raising and comical story, which moves effortlessly from the hardware of high-flying planes and new missiles to the geopolitics of the nuclear stand-off and through the poignant personal stories of its central protagonists: Powers, the all-American hero, blacklisted for not having killed himself on his descent to earth; a KGB spy who has spent aimless and lonely years achieving nothing in the US; and the opposing leaders Khrushchev and Eisenhower, both trapped in a spiral of confrontation neither wants. Telling the true story that inspired Le Carre's famous scene, "Bridge of Spies" is a brilliant take on the absurdity and heroism of the Cold War days that will appeal to a new generation of readers unfamiliar with the history but drawn in by the compelling and vividly recreated narrative.

Giles Whittell is Washington correspondent for The Times, having worked for them in Los Angeles and Moscow.