The Spy's Son

The riveting, true story of the father-and-son co-conspirators who sold U.S. national secrets to Russia.

Jim Nicholson was the highest-ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage. A single father, respected mentor, and brilliant case officer, he was also a double agent selling thousands of state secrets to the Russians. However, it was from behind the bars of a federal prison that he conducted his greatest betrayal.

Just 12 years after Jim's conviction, his youngest son, Nathan, was arrested for the same crime. Through interviews, private letters, and access to Jim's personal journal, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Bryan Denson pieces together a fascinating family portrait of a father so caught up in his life as a double agent that he manipulated his own son – an army veteran – to betray his country in order to stay loyal to his family.

Read Caroline Baum's Review

Two generations of betrayal: a double whammy makes this an absolutely compelling true story of a father and son spying for Russia.

Jim Nicholson was the highest ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage for being a double agent selling thousands of secrets to the Russians after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Unchastened by his conviction, and while still behind bars in a federal prison, he recruited his youngest son Nathan, an army veteran, to follow in his footsteps. Twelve years later, Nathan is arrested for the same crime.

Based on interviews and letters, Bryan Denson pieces together a complex tale with strong echoes of TV dramas Homeland and The Americans played out against the backdrop of an America struggling to keep abreast of geopolitical change in the Middle East and traumatised by the intelligence failure of 9/11.

About the Author

Author Bryan Denson, an experienced journalist, leads us step-by-step through an extraordinary espionage case that stretched, in two phases, from the mid-1990s to 2011. In phase one, Jim Nicholson, a rising star in the CIA, sold his agency’s secrets to the Russians to get himself out of a financial jam. He was caught and sent to prison. Then, in a remarkable twist in 2006, Jim, still imprisoned, recruited his son Nathan to sell more secrets to the Russians.