Sidney Reilly was probably the greatest spy the world has ever known.  He lived on his wits and thrived on danger, killing where necessary – and unnecessary.  He had four wives - three marriages of which were bigamous – and numerous mistresses from New York to the Ukraine.  From the gentlemen’s clubs of Edwardian England to the forbidding gates of the Kremlin itself, he influenced world history with coups of extraordinary magnitude that required skill – and audacity – rarely seen since.

Until now major questions have remained unanswered about Reilly.  During his life Reilly laid an almost impenetrable fog of mystery and deception around his origins as he adopted and shed one identity after another.  Those who entered this ruthlessly compartmentalized life knew only what Reilly himself had told them. Andrew Cook’s biography reveals for the first time Reilly’s true identity, and his precarious early life as a high-rolling con artist and murderer.