Book reviews: July 2022
Winter evenings are the perfect time to dip into a new book. Here are our picks for this month.
The Unexpected Spy
Tracy Walder with Jessica Anya Blau
MacMillan
$37.99
Reviewed by Steve Atkinson
I was a few pages in of what I thought was a work of fiction before realising the content was, in fact, an autobiography of a CIA agent’s time behind the scenes of the US agency, before transferring across to the FBI, which she then covers.
As such, it was an interesting perspective of the two male-dominated careers and sheds light on her time there in the early 2000s. She gives her viewpoint on the weapons of mass destruction scenario, which led to the US invading Afghanistan, along with how people of interest were ignored because some countries’ internal security agencies didn’t work at the weekends.
While some paragraphs are redacted (blanked out), there’s still enough information to get a small insight into how the CIA and FBI operate, as well as some of their training methods, which seemed to be very alpha-male orientated. Hopefully, since then, things have changed for the better within both camps. A quality read.
Valentine George
Pat Backley
Self-published
$24.95
Reviewed by Steve Atkinson
This easy-to-digest short book follows the author’s recollection of her grandfather and extended family from the very late 1800s through to the 1960s. It’s a depressing tale of growing up in the UK and comprises shakily told re-enactments along with many, many—way too many—letters, which being designed in Italic font makes the eyes blur after the first few sentences.
Thankfully, the book is only 180 pages, so it wasn’t too hard to push through to the end, even if it was just to see if life gets any better for the poor sods. Spoiler alert, it didn’t by the 1960s, but then again, the family had another 60 years to get things in order. Note to self. There’s a reason many books are self-published.
Embedded
David Burt
Mary Egan Publishing
$35
Reviewed by Steve Atkinson
Kiwi author David Burt did himself proud with this tale that’s normally the fare of US- or UK-based writers. It tracks back to 1982 Afghanistan and follows the life of a 16-year-old local from his village through to life in New York, dealing with the mafia and others on the way to setting himself up in business and extracting his revenge on those who he perceives to have wronged his family and country.
On the way to the final showdown, he traverses the Pakistan heroin trade and even spends a few years in New Zealand—that being the most cringeworthy part of the whole story in my opinion. Nonetheless, it’s a readable effort and certainly worth the $35 bucks.
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