Customer Reviews

Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations That Helped Win the Cold War

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In the 1980s, after years of success in their operations against the Soviet Union, the CIA suddenly finds that the KGB has them outmaneuvered at every step. When it becomes clear that a vitally important Soviet informer must be spirited out of the country, CIA agents Antonio "Tony" Mendez and Jonna Goeser know that they cannot rely on the old methods of working, but must devise a whole new set of tactics. This is the story of Tony and Jonna, and the greatest American intelligence coup of the 20th century.

This book is not a mere retelling of historical events, instead it is history written in the form of a novel. Along the story, the authors trace their adventures, their deduction, and their burgeoning love. The story is well written, and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Indeed, the one complaint I have against this book is that its narrative form left me wondering what was real and what was added. (After all, who can remember the words of every conversation one had over a number of years?) And, as a side complaint, while the Russians' use of a strange "spy dust" is mentioned; it is almost completely absent from the story, in spite of what the title might suggest.

But, in spite of my complaints, I must say that I greatly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to you.

Like Antonio Mendez' first book, Master of Disguise, this excellent entry in true espionage is filled with the nuts and bolts of daily intelligence work. As described in the book, it is a life that is messy, frustrating, and in the odd rare moment, filled with coincidences that are all the more satisfying because they are true. The tone is light, crisp and clear. As one would expect from Bruce Henderson, the story is narrative-driven, providing a human element and strong sense of place within the events described. The book offers no "dirt" on the CIA - Mendez is a loyal company man - but there is much insight into the workings of the organization during tumultuous and key years. The glossary is thorough without being exhaustive. Non-fiction fans and those interested in espionage will be pleased. David R. Bannon, Ph.D.; author "Race Against Evil."

Having retired after 29.5 years in the CIA, I found SPY DUST a fascinating read in one sitting. It reveals the Agency indeed has "Mission Impossible" capabilities equal to those dreamed up by thriller genre authors who lack the personal experience of Antonio and Jonna. I was a bit upset by the negative tone of some of the reviews here, from people who obviously had been so influenced by trashy fiction they were unable to recognize "the real thing" when they saw it.

Antonio and Jonna were highly-specialized technicians supporting the operations of other case officers, operations whose complexity often requires the orchestrated participation of dozens of other Agency officers, and coordination with many different "desks" at Headquarters and field stations in other countries. In this sense, during their careers they probably enjoyed a higher level of job satisfaction than most case officers, who have the difficult, mostly frustrating task of finding and recruiting foreigners to spy for them. Most thriller authors have no idea of the amount of planning and preparation these real operations involve, and how easily things can go wrong. SPY DUST is a welcome eye-opener in this regard.

Because of their specialization, Antonio and Jonna contributed to more interesting operations every year than most case officers see in a lifetime. My hat is off to their obvious expertise, and I fully understand (which some reviewers did not) why they were unable to include more nitty-gritty details on exactly how some of their amazing technical tricks were performed.

Former CIA employees find a realistic true-life book such as SPY DUST extremely difficult to write, because it must be cleared (some would say censored) by the CIA Publications Review Board. Despite that, it is amazing how much informative detail and "been there, done that" personal experience the authors were able to reveal.

I never met the authors while we were all still "on the job," but SPY DUST has given me a deeper appreciation of their technical colleagues I encountered overseas.

This is not an espionage thriller as the cover and title of this book would have you beleive. The vast majority of the content in this book is about how two people working in the CIA fall in love with each other and how they are so excited being around one another. I for one, and i think most people would agree, think that someone who would buy this book would be interested in the CIA and the history of the cold war. This book has nearly nothing to do with either of those subjects! Their are some good parts to this book but they are overshadowed by a love story. This book would be better catogorized as a romance novel!

My wife and I enjoyed the story line and the detail of the real trade. Unlike sensationalized books, we enjoyed knowing that what we read was actual spy craft and not an author's fantasy. The love story adds a human element to the tale in a world of characters usually thought to be as ice cold or as sensual as ... Galore. Real world spying without the cliffhanger made for movie scenes. Great read.

I found this book interesting, especially the set ups (help from Hollywood, lots of practice runs in Georgetown, etc) needed to attempt to exfiltrate an agent. I just skipped over the parts about their personal relationship (it really didn't belong in the book). It was also chilling and upsetting to read about the people directly affected by Aldrich Ames and Robert Hannsen.

This book, by Antonio Mendez and his wife Jonna, is an intriguing memoir of two CIA employees at work during the closing years of the Cold War. Like most Cold War memoirs and histories, Spy Dust offers an insight into a small portion of the overall struggle between the USA and the USSR. As loyal CIA retirees, they don't really allow us to see all that much, but by pulling the curtain back just a little, the insight is fascinating.

The book reads more like a spy novel than a non fiction book, and the parallels made me wonder how much in current spy fiction is actually fact. I have heard others say that the truth would actually be stranger than fiction, and this book makes me believe that that statement is actually true.

One statement that I found particularly telling was at a conference after the end of the Cold War where the current and past CIA Directors shared the podium with the former KGB Director of Foreign Counterintelligence, General Oleg Kalugin. In scoring the success of American vs. Soviet Human Intelligence efforts, he rated the U.S. successes as five times that of the Soviets, an amazing admission from a former enemy.

I think any reader will find this book very interesting and easy to follow and enjoy.

I found this book to be an engrossing look at the real world of espionage. While reading the book I felt like I was reading a script for a spy movie. It's hard to believe that people actually use some of the techniques that you see on the big screen. I'd like to disagree with some of the other reviews about the book. The love story actually is a minor part of the overall structure of the book. I think it makes the authors seem more real and human rather than your usual stereotypical super spy that can leap buildings in single bound. Although I wouldn't consider the book a pinnacle of literary prose, it is very readable and, in general, well written. I particularly enjoyed their detailed decriptions of the actual operations. I felt like I actually got a taste (at least on a superficial level) of the tension, planning, stress, and adrenaline rush that must go on during an operation. I also found Jonna's version of events more enjoyable than Tony's. As to the reviewer who said that there weren't gadgets, well he must have been reading the wrong book. I found plenty of mention of various techniques, but of course they couldn't describe it in detail. I'm sure alot of it is still being used in the field and is still classified! At any rate, this book gives you a good sampling of what the life of real life spies are like and I highly recommend it for a quick informative read.

While reality is sometimes said to be stranger than fiction, leave it to CIA veterans Tony and Jonna Mendez to create a memoir of their overseas adventures that truly boggles the mind. Whether breaking into a Soviet installation to steal a code machine, exfiltrating a pair of agents out of Moscow with the help of a CIA "ninja," or inventing new methods of throwing off KGB surveillance, this dynamic duo still found time for love while performing their duties in a demanding career that leaves little personal time. It couldn't have happened to two better people.

With so many autobiographies out there by ex-CIA operations officers, "Spy Dust" offers a distinct perspective on Cold War espionage history in that it was written by a husband-and-wife team of disguise artists, thus giving it that playful, creative flavor that makes this book all the more appealing. Even the title of the book is a play on words, if you think about it.

I totally enjoyed this book. If you like stories about clandestine operations, you will love this one. Just enough background description, a small amount of romance and good descriptions of undercover ops.

I only wish they would have been able to tell some of the things that are still classified. Sometimes I had to 'read between the lines' in order to figure out what was REALLY going on.

Read it. You will like it!