Killer Spy: Inside Story of the FBI's Pursuit and Capture of Aldrich Ames, America's Deadliest Spy [Mass Market Paperback]

Peter Maas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1996

In the waning days of the Cold War, Aldrich Ames systematically and cold bloodedly sent a dozen of the US's best agents to their death, betraying them to the Soviets for more than two million dollars. This is the story of how he was finally caught.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446602795
• ISBN-13: 978-0446602792
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.6 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fluff, little research, October 27, 2001

By 

J. FERGUSON "a patriot" (Westminster, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killer Spy: The Inside Story of the FBI's Pursuit and Capture of Aldrich Ames, America's Deadliest Spy (Hardcover)

THis book incorrectly focuses on the FBI as the capturers of Ames and leaves out the mole hunting CIA team's chase of Ames. While they did mess up and take years to identify the problem, the CIA team caught Ames. THis book is also way short on providing insight into Ames motives, tactics and techniques. A MUCH better book on the subject is "confessions of a spy" by Pete Early. Earley is the only journalist that was able to interview Ames and his well researched book provides the story in Ames own words as well as interviews with his russian accomplices.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars My Thoughts, June 5, 2006

By 

Kat Po (Venice, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killer Spy: The Inside Story of the FBI's Pursuit and Capture of Aldrich Ames, America's Deadliest Spy (Hardcover)

Maas does a good job of keeping the reader interested and moving the story along, however, I feel that because of this some of the details of the CIA's involvement in the investigation are glossed over. My only other complaint is that I felt Maas didn't spend enough time explaining the importance of the U.S. sources that Ames gave to the Soviets and who they were. While Maas does a great job in portraying Ames, putting a spotlight on his character for the reader, humanizing the agents whose deaths Ames is responsible for, would add to the reader's understanding of his depravity and villainy masked by his self-centered worldview. Despite these complaints, Maas's, Killer Spy, is a well written, detailed account of a fascinating espionage investigation not to mention a fun read.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keystone cops on assignment, August 20, 2005

By 

Does Not Matter (MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killer Spy: The Inside Story of the FBI's Pursuit and Capture of Aldrich Ames, America's Deadliest Spy (Hardcover)

This book is relatively short but it provides enough information on the subject. I also liked its matter of fact presentation of the events.

But the truly amazing part is the "Keystone Cops" aspect of the whole affair. CIA and FBI joint task force identified Ames after the first real check of the financial status of possible sources, but it took 10 years of humiliating failures for this pretty routine investigation to get started.

And after that initial success the team of top flight FBI agents experienced one snafu after another trying to catch Ames and his Russian handlers red-handed and finally gave it up.