The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin’s Greatest Enemy

In this riveting real-life thriller, journalist Ireland (Churchill & Son) traces how a group of Russian spies managed to infiltrate Leon Trotsky’s inner circle. Ireland begins with Trotsky’s banishment to Siberia in 1928, which was the first of a series of exiles that would each see a physically ailing but politically fiery Trotsky pushed farther and farther away from Russia, eventually landing him in Mexico. Against the narrative of Trotsky’s banishments, Ireland presents the parallel stories of the Russian spies who hounded, undermined, and surveilled him, including one who grew so close as to become the publisher of Trotsky’s newsletter. Ireland dissects the techniques used by Soviet intelligence to recruit and groom spies to join Trotsky’s circle, while also noting how, in a topsy-turvy twist, “looking after Trotsky” carried its own dangers—just opening his mail was risky, as the packages could contain bombs. Ultimately, the narrative begins to swirl around Soviet recruit Ramon Mercador, a young Spanish aristocrat who grew close enough to Trotsky to know where the switch for his alarm system was in his study, meaning he was able to block it with his body when, on orders from Moscow, he infamously struck Trotsky in the head with an ice pick on August 21, 1940. Cinematic and suspenseful, this vividly depicts the yearslong tightening of the noose around a brilliant and hunted man. (Feb.)