This is someone who goes where the story is and risks his life. At the same time, it is also a story with only one aim and that is to show Putin to be a monster. There is no balance or subtlety of argument. The closest you get is the distinction between Putin and the Russian people at large, and the latter are not well defined just occasionally sentimentalised.

Shchekochikhin’s girlfriend Alyona Gromova recalled: “On the day he was taken to hospital, he felt very weak. After he had a shower, his hair was a mess. I went to stroke it and great handfuls of hair came out in my hand. The symptoms were confusing. First, it seemed like a cold but his face was very red, as if he had sunburn, then lumps of his skin started to flake off.” But ultimately, this book has clearly and most certainly demonstrated to the reader the Kremlin's villainy. No doubt about that. Do proceed with a salt shaker in hand - Sweeney spares no room in giving his blunt opinions and expressing his hatred of Putin. He plans to return to Ukraine next month. For now he is enjoying his break with friends and family. He is no longer married but is “still pals” with his ex-wife, and is glad of a chance to see his children. It’s been great chatting but now he has to dash for an urgent appointment: an Umbrian wine tasting. Sweeney is funny and opinionated throughout. Some of his conclusions about Putin's direct involvement in terrible events and murders are a little assumptive. There is not a smoking gun of evidence linking Putin to them directly. That said, I do agree with each of the author's conclusions, because knowing what Putin is capable of and the acts of aggression perpetrated by the Russian Federation, it is hard to come to any other conclusion about the man pulling the strings. John Sweeney is an award-winning journalist and author, who brings a novel to the layman that truly confirms the Russian powers mindset - "Oderint dum metuant. Let them hate so long as they fear."Russian president Boris Yeltsin shakes hands with prime minister Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the presidential residence Gorky-9 outside Moscow, November 1999

Sweeney outlines briefly Putin's early life - some fascinating suggestions on his treatment as a child - to his KGB career - again suggesting why Putin languished in Russia and Dresden - and then onto his rise through domestic politics to leader of Russia. An explosive account of Putin's presidency and his long-term ambitions, including first-hand reporting from the invasion of Ukraine. This is as much a personal account by Sweeney of his coverage of Putin's Russia over the years as well as his work as a freelance war correspondent in Ukraine. He makes a compelling case about the nature of Putin and his history. Some of it is speculative but hard to avoid than given how closed a society Russia is and Sweeney makes his case well. John Sweeney is an award-winning journalist and author, currently working as an investigative journalist for the BBC's Panorama series. Before joining the BBC in 2001, Sweeney worked for twelve years at The Observer, where he covered wars and revolutions in more than sixty countries including Romania, Algeria, Iraq, Chechnya, Burundi and Bosnia. MyHome.ie (Opens in new window) • Top 1000 • The Gloss (Opens in new window) • Recruit Ireland (Opens in new window) • Irish Times Training (Opens in new window)Bem, este livro foi bastante interessante e mostra o nível de crimes que o Vladimir Putin praticou ao longo da sua carreira no KGB e no Kremlin. Foi um “zé ninguém”, que em curto prazo de tempo tornou-se o homem mais poderoso da Rússia e das figuras mais temíveis do Mundo. As a reporter, first for the Observer and then for the BBC, Sweeney has covered wars and chaos in more than eighty countries and been undercover to a number of tyrannies, including Chechnya, North Korea and Zimbabwe.

Sweeney may be correct in suggesting that Putin has been an expert conman and that his victims included former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, UK prime minister Tony Blair and the billionaire oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Despite his extremely unsavoury reputation, Berezovsky was given asylum in London, having become one of Putin’s enemies. The phrase “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” comes to mind. Many people also visit those properties for fun. Evgeny Lebedev – the Russian-born proprietor of The Independent and the London Evening Standard, who also owned iuntil 2016 – is known for the extravagant parties he holds at Palazzo Terranova. No one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful people.' ― VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE The book is infused with anecdotes of Sweeney's own, which add a lot of kudos to the conclusions he draws. It also starts and finishes in Ukraine, where Sweeney based himself for 3 months of the start of the War, with the observations from that time well presented and documented.His bold approach has also got him into plenty of scrapes. There was the 2007 Scientology investigation in which he spectacularly lost his temper (bellowing so loudly at a church spokesperson that he resembled, in his own words, an “exploding tomato”). Donald Trump accused him of having a “ lousy reputation” after walking out of an interview in 2013. The same year, he got into a row with the London School of Economics after using a student trip arranged by his then-wife to enter North Korea undercover (the BBC admitted breaches of editorial guidelines, but Sweeney stood by his methods, saying “North Korea is not Torremolinos”). Though the book can at times feel too personal and he does portray himself as a lad journalist against the world (this was in no part helped by the books narrator who injected the reading with the bravado of a nuts magazine editor). I feel it necessary and proper and right to put that stuff out,” says Sweeney. “It is gross, it is disgusting – that’s a war crime.”