The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames. A Review

The Good Spy is a tragic account of a CIA operative named Robert Ames. The author of the book, Kai Bird was Ames' childhood neighbor, so he provides a brutally honest account of his life and work. Like most biography books, it starts out with an outlook on Ames' childhood life with the chapter called The Making of a Spy. In this chapter, Bird tells what made Ames become a CIA case officer. Later on, he gives an account of Ames' spy work in the Middle East as the chief of the Near East and South Asia Division of the Directorate of Intelligence. He was truly a great spy who knew the ins and outs of all the nuances in espionage and built common ground between the CIA, Mossad, and various Middle Eastern intelligence agencies. Tragically, however, Ames' life was cut short on April 18, 1983 when Islamic terrorists bombed the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. There is an entire chapter devoted to this terrorist attack where the author follows Ames minute by minute. Finally, he provides an account of the aftermath of the event, and in the epilogue, we see what happened to Ames' wife and six children and how they coped with their loss.

As someone who likes spy novels, I found The Good Spy a very informative and enjoyable read. Bird's writing style was very clear and easy to follow along. As for the rating, I would give this book a 9.5/10.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review.