Okay, before I jump into this book review, I have to tell you why I read it: shockingly (um, not) my latest book is about a spy. I’ve actually written about spies a few times, but this is the first time I’ve used a contemporary CIA officer (not agent!) in one of my novels. Naturally, I had to run out and research.

As I was looking through books on the subject on Amazon, I came across Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran, which was touted as “a cross between James Bond and Bridget Jones!” That pretty much sounded like what I was working on, and the back cover copy promised to answer several specific questions I had in the research process. (It didn’t answer the underlying question, however: why did you leave all your research until after you wrote it??)

Best of all? My truly, truly awesome library had a copy. I snuck out and checked it out that night, and read it the next day.

I read several reviews before I got the book, and a lot of people really disliked the author’s attitude, feeling she came off as pompous or self-centered (something I think is endemic in autobiographies), or that she should have realized what she was getting into when she had deep misgivings about the nature of her job (something she herself admits). I think the thing I found most off-putting about the author as she recounts her life is the freewheeling lifestyle she seems to have wanted—honestly, I just couldn’t see the appeal of what looked like the feckless, party-centered existence she left behind and mourned.

However, for me that wasn’t a major drawback, and I appreciated the author’s honesty about her misgivings about her job, her desires and her life. I probably would have edited several passages differently for clarity and what felt like intellectual “rug-pulling” (hm… maybe that’s another post), but in all, I found the information I was looking for, along with an honest look at what a CIA case officer does.

Any memoir about the CIA devotes at least a portion to the rigorous year(s—it can be up to 3) spent in training, especially the legendary paramilitary courses of the Farm. So after reading several memoirs, this probably gets a little repetitive, though surely every class has its own experiences and funny situations. Another book I read gave a lot more information on other aspects of spy tradecraft they studied on the Farm, especially since that particular Clandestine Service Trainee class didn’t get to do most of the paramilitary exercises—but I’ll tell you more about that book in its review.

All in all, if you want to know more about dating while in the CIA and what kind of person really excels as a spy, I think this book is worth a look. It’s a fairly quick read, and by the end, I was rooting for Lindsay to find happiness (and terrorists, but that’s a different story).

I’m off to dig into a Margie Lawson course (home study). What are you writing or reading plans this weekend?