Joe Weisberg

Phil and Elizabeth Jennings, the Russian spies posing as an all-American family in 1980s Washington, D.C., continue their descent into hell and continue to drag others with them. Their most troubling victim is their daughter Paige, who, after blabbing about her parents to her liberal pastor, has been given her first adult assignment, i.e. to keep Pastor Tim and wife under surveillance. Victim no. 2 is Martha, the FBI secretary seduced and married (!) by Phil, who is persuaded that exile in show more the Soviet Union is better than prison – or murder, although that was never spelled out to her. Other people get hurt. Nina is executed, Frank Gaad is accidentally killed, Oleg Burov loses a brother in Afghanistan, the KGB resident is declared non persona grata. The main story line concerns an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a biological warfare sample of Lassa fever. This ends sadly too, with season guest Dylan Baker having a great death scene after injected himself with the sample when cornered. Gloomy, slow, very entertaining on some strange level, great. show less

I don't see what all the fuss is about this book? I bought this because it was supposed to be THE spy novel. It was praised by ex-CIA operatives and such, so I thought I'd give it a shot. My mistake. I think the reason these folks like it is because they actually can understand what's going on. Unlike the rest of us who are on the outside looking in.

I got about halfway through and then stopped. This is a very uneven read. There are parts that are engaging, but most of it meanders without show more any specific story. After 150 pages, I still had no idea what the main plot point of this book was. And the main character - I couldn't care less about this guy. Now, add that to the fact that about 20% of the book is blacked out because the CIA, yes, THE CIA, thought it was too sensitive, and you find yourself not only lost but trying to fill in the blanks. show less

The choppy and youthful style of the book might put off some readers, but for those willing to go past the bad grammar (and what the implications of the fact that the book's style is "genuine" are), there is a lovely and real story to be had.

This is the first book I read after spending 6 weeks reading only Walden. I thought it was amazing for about the first 80 pages; then I realized that my enthusiasm was due in part to my relief at reading something other than Walden. After another 100 pages or so, I felt that all spy novels are about the same thing: the psychology, necessity (or not), practice, and morality of deception. This is an engaging exploration of that theme, although the postscript is not convincing.