Review 105: The Unexpected Spy

The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists by Tracy Walder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fascinating book into the world of the CIA by a woman (see Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA). This book was a page turner, it was difficult to put down when I had other things I needed to do, like sleep.

Yet sometimes the stories were left incomplete. Walder is hunting for specific information or a certain person of interest, then that story line is dropped. Not always, as sometimes we know where it ends, but a few times we are left without knowing what happened. It seems simple enough to state, we got what we needed, or we weren’t successful. But instead we’re left in the dark. The redactions did not help. I understand the need for security, keeping details hidden, yet I felt the redactions left in the book made it more of a nuisance. Why not change the names further, or remove entirely? Walder provides a reason in the beginning on why it was left in, to maintain continuity, but it didn't work for me, seemed unnecessary to leave in black lines.

Despite these pitfalls, the book had an overall theme, about women in the intelligence community. Often women were not treated with respect, many times from other countries, but when Walder got into the FBI it was definitely from her own, although much of it stemmed from her being in the CIA. In any case, her experience helped her grow into a strong woman. Without giving away the book entirely, I will say the choices Walder made later in life were logical choices.

As I started earlier, this was a fascinating book. Despite redactions and generalizations, you do get an idea of what working in the CIA may be like, what hard work it is. And we see how much the agency does to keep people safe from terrorist plots anywhere in the world. It is real life intelligence work, and it’s a enthralling read.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance review copy of this book.