'Blaine Harden's King of Spies is jaw-droppingly good - a quirky, unlikely, thrilling true story of intrigue and daring and depravity told by a master of the genre' David Maraniss, author of Once in a Great City: A Detroit City
Donald Nichols was 'a one man war', according to his US Air Force commanding general. With a chest full of medals for valour and initiative in the Korean War, commanders described him as the most effective spymaster of the conflict. But there is far more to Nichols's story than first meets the eye . . .
Based on long-classified government records, unsealed court documents and interviews in Korea and the US, King of Spies tells the gripping story of the reign of an intelligence commander who lost touch with morality, legality and possibly even sanity. A seventh-grade dropout, he created his own empire in Korea, commanding a small army of hand-selected spies, deploying a makeshift navy and ruling as a clandestine king with absolute power over life and death. He claimed a 'legal license to murder' and inhabited a world of mass executions and beheadings.
Then, finally, the US government decided to end Nichols's reign . . .
'A thrilling real-life spy story told by a terrific writer' Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
