Realistic and well written; therefore not pleasant reading. How US spy efforts started with OSS and ultimately became the CIA. Lots of bad judgment and poor decisions really piled up the casualties. ( )

Intriguing account of how the OSS (predecessor of the CIA) ran operations into Nazi Germany in the post D-Day world, in order to gather intelligence to hasten the end of the war. A remarkable thing you get from reading the book is that quite a few missions were being run in the last 3 months of the war, when the war seemed to be all but over. The chaotic situation is certainly brought to light, as well as the improvisations that had to be made on a constant basis, especially in light of the occasional (and more than occasional) lack of cooperation from the Army and Air Force. Modest successes are recounted, but the butcher's bill, as detailed in the book, is horrific. Well worth reading as an antidote to spy novels. ( )