Customer Reviews

The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold: The Secret Life of FBI Double Agent Robert Hanssen

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Consider this to be a sort of consumer's guide to the three Hanssen books on the market, from one who's read them all . . .
1.THE BUREAU AND THE MOLE has a good photo section but no index or bibliography, both essential in my opinion. Half of it is a bio of Louis Freeh, who should hang his head in shame rather than be credited for uncovering Hanssen. The sex revelations are here, but unless you like pornography I advise you to skip the part about Hanssen's postings on the internet. Still, the information about Bonnie Hanssen's brother--an FBI agent--who suspected him and was ignored is almost worth the price of the book. Four stars.
2. THE SPY NEXT DOOR has an index but no photos and no bibliography. The writing is a little wooden and there are little mistakes like getting the church where the Hanssen's were married wrong. They have some sex stuff too, but thankfully no internet ramblings. A workmanlike job that reads like a Time magazine cover story.
3. THE SPY WHO STAYED OUT IN THE COLD has photos, a bibliography, and an index. It's also about 30 pages longer than the other two. Alas, no sex though the chapter on the stripper runs for some 12 pages and is titillating.It's the most complete with its biggest scoop being that Hanssen told friends he wanted to be a double agent long before he joined the FBI and thus should have never been hired. Four-and-a-half stars.

Here we go...another attempt to get a book out in time to sell it before the general public forgets who the subject is. Problem is with that theory is that we have seveal books that are way too much a like. If only one would have covered his chilhood better and paid epecial attention to Opus Dei, both of which I believe had more effect than anyone will ever know. I'd also like to know how an FBI Agent got his hands on all this supposed NSA and CIA information. Even in these days of "Homeland Security", these folks just don't share well at all. I think there is/was a middle-man (CIA?) in there somewhere. No way NSA or CIA would reveal info to the FBI, who they consider just to be the Federal police dept with no "need to know" anything important of an international nature. The whole thing sounds bogus to me. - Former NSA Employee

This book provides a wealth of information for those of us who have not followed the Hanssen story closely, but find its murkey contours intrigueing. Yes, many of the sources (aside from interviews) are available on the Net, but who has the time and the inclination to compile this material merely to satisfy a superficial curiosity? I don't, and thus I found the book well worth the purchase price.

One aspect of the book I find particularly interesting is that Hanssen reminds me of most of my former neighbors in the DC area. Middle Class, intelligent, somewhat geeky, no people skills, and suffering from ego wounds inflicted in high school and earlier. It is a personality type more prevelent in the DC suburbs than anywhere else I have lived. The book renewed my determination never to live in the Washington area again, or even to visit.

A note on writing style: I don't like it. I find it cutesy and kitchy, the use of "Bob" particularly annoyed me for the first 30 pages or so. Things get better when Opus Dei is addressed and thereafter.

This is a well-written and footnoted account of the Robert Hanssen spy case. Author Havill provides ample background information on Hanssen's early years and his involvement in Opus Dei that sheds some light on the spy's troubled personality. On the face, Hanssen was dedicated to his family, his religion and was a right of center flag waver. On the other side of the coin, Hanssen spent tens of thousands of dollars on a stripper he "adopted" while his family struggled financially, and was a traitor who sold out his country for ego strokes and money. Havill did a solid job of describing Hanssen's acts of espionage, but Hanssen's motivation remains an unexplained, contradictory jumble.

The biggest shocker in all of this is how a genuinely fouled-up personality like Robert Hanssen eluded the FBI's internal security apparatus for 25 years, rising quite high in the Counter-Espionage hierarchy. One can only hope that FBI Director Mueller and Attorney General Ashcroft will do a better job at policing the agency than their predecessors did.

With people like Robert Hanssen in the FBI it is no wonder that terrorists can have their way with us and we never find-out about it until they fly airplanes into buildings. On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four airliners with horrific results. We all know the rest of the story. After you read this book you will not feel as safe as you beforehand. Hopefully there is not a Robert Hanssen in the Middle-East Section.

I have always been interested in stories of espionage and betrayal. Six years ago I read two books on Aldrich Ames, who was Robert Hanssen's predecessor in the CIA.
This account is dense, and focuses deeply on Hanssen's motivation, particularly his ties to a little known organisation within the Catholic church. It's not surprising then, that the group's friends and sympathisers are howling elsewhere on this page.
A review in the November 20th Washington Times called this book "a meticulous account" and I would have to agree. The best single praise I can give is it kept me turning the pages like any good thriller. Unfortunately--and that is what is so appalling--this story is true. Hanssen's crimes seem even worse in the aftermath of September 11th. The nuclear secrets he sold to the Soviets were likely sold to Iran and Iraq and God knows who else. At least that is what I have read. Hanssen should have known that when he was hiding packages under bridges,and pretending to be James Bond.His betrayal is to his country AND his family.

" The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold" By Adrian Havill had its moments, but overall it left me cold. I did gain some insight into the motives and mind of a spy, but not nearly enough to warm me up to this book. Havill covered the basics of espionage 101 with dead drops and payments, as well as illegally accessing computer files and sending them to the enemy. While sharing his story, I never felt close to his spy, Robert Hansen. The author does discuss possible motives for Hansen's traitorous behavior, but they are just his theories and some of the spy's former co-workers opinions. I would have enjoyed reading a professional psychiatrist's personality profile of Hansen. There was some timely writing about Opus Dei, a little known part of Catholicism. This cult-like group, which speaks of celibacy for the unmarried, held more interest for me in light of the recent Catholic clergy difficulties. Overall, if you are looking for a hot read, "The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold" should stay on the shelf for now, although breezing through the first half of this book on a summer's day could hold your interest. It is perhaps a good introductory warm up into the world of espionage.

The mark of a good biography in my view, is when the author takes time to delve into the subject's childhood and interviews everyone from his teachers to his school friends. In the case of the strange, weird traitor Robert Hanssen, getting into his psyche is extremely important.
The author has done just that, ferreting out college roommates, professors, and pals from the Chicago police force. Hanssen is quoted telling one friend that he actually would be a double agent. My question--why didn't the FBI find that out before they hired him when they did his background check?
There are plenty of family anecdotes too, which show that Hanssen was and is as nutty as they come. I don't know if I should call a book like this, entertaining, but there's no doubt that this story is a real life thriller about a traitor who should have been caught years before his actual capture.

Another example of an author trying to capture the moment by rushing to the market with the "inside story". The book was a disappointment since all it did was gather public information and lay it out in an orderly fashion. No insights into the man and his possible motivation for betraying his country, his wife, and his family. In order to fill out the book, we get explorations of Opus Dei, exact reproductions of every letter sent between the Russians and Hanssen and pictures of his old high school, houses, and a group photo from the State Department. No pictures of his wife, children, or other family members. No details of the internal life of the Hanssen family when Robert was a boy. What was the relationship between Hanssen and the father, which I have read about in the press but not in the book. Possibly the book was already in galley proof before this information became available. Buy the book that is on the best seller list if you want to read about this tragic figure.

It was a struggle to get through this book. The author clearly threw this together to get the book out there quickly. His references to various characters keep changing and it is often unclear what person is being discussed. The book contains large sections of Hanssen's overwraught, boring letters to the Russians, cut and pasted in the book in long format by the author. The author diverts us from the main story with a strangely inapplicable discussion of Catholic "cults". Note: recent events detailing Hanssen's sexual proclivities (not the stripper stories discussed in the book, but taping of he and his wife, voyeurism, etc.) cause the author to have egg on his face. The author's adamant opinion is that Hanssen was straight as an arrow despite his relationship with a stripper.

I've read this book twice. The first was for the sheer pleasure of reading a well-written book that pulled me along--it's a real page-turner. I went back and went through it again in order to absorb the dense information. The author puts our electronic surveillance systems like echelon and carnivore in layman's language and his chapter on Opus Dei is illuminating while even-handed
Hanssen betrayed his country--we all know that, and as the author makes clear, he is at best, mentally unbalanced. On the other hand, there's little doubt he knew right from wrong and so in the final analysis, he has to be considered a despicable traitor to America. What he did is as bad as it gets.