Book Description

Moscow, 1988. It is the twilight of the Cold War, and the KGB is at its most ruthless. In the last three years, ten CIA operatives have been executed or neutralized. Langley has no idea how the KGB seems to be able to predict the CIA's every move, but some believe they are using an invisible electromagnetic powder that allows them to keep tabs on anyone who touches it: spy dust.

Enter CIA officers Tony Mendez and Jonna Goeser, who come together to head up a team of technical wizards and operational specialists, determined to solve the mystery that threatens to bring down the curtain on the Cold War's final act.

Beginning in Indochina and culminating in a breathtakingly daring operation in the heart of the Kremlin itself, "Spy Dust" reveals more about U.S. intelligence techniques abroad than any previously published work of nonfiction, and is a riveting account of spycraft, courage, loyalty, and love.

From Publishers Weekly

Retired CIA disguise expert Antonio Mendez (The Master of Disguise) teams up with his wife, also a former agent, to reveal how they fell in love during a highly critical mission in the waning years of the Cold War. Antonio and Jonna shift back and forth in their account as separate assignments eventually converge in the extrication from Moscow of a high-ranking KGB mole, jeopardized by the traitorous dealings of men like Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen. Fans of Alan Furst's WWII espionage novels will appreciate the subdued nature of this thriller, where the stakes are always high but the individual actions are usually low-key, as well as the details the Mendezes provide on the art of eluding surveillance. The title is a red herring although "spy dust" was a real element of the KGB's operations against foreigners in Moscow, its role in this story is of a background nature. The climax hinges on a much more old-fashioned game of cat and mouse. There are a few weak spots in the narrative, where the authors (or their collaborator, true-crime scribe Henderson) try to recreate scenes at which they weren't present, but for the most part this is an entertaining thriller with the added virtue of being true. 16 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.

From Booklist

Readers interested in the spy game will salivate at the prospects of reading this insider account of final five years of the cold war. The authors, former CIA agents charged with developing new techniques for keeping the KGB from spying on and recruiting American intelligence personnel, fell in love as they worked to change the rules of espionage; their story is a rare combination of nuts-and-bolts tradecraft and gentle romance. But don't be misled by the love angle; the developing relationship between the spies adds a human dimension to the story, but it never gets in the way of the insider stuff: descriptions of the technology of spying; play-by-play accounts of some major operations; and a wealth of information about Soviet espionage techniques (the book gets its title from a powder used by Russian spies to track American agents without having to maintain visual contact). This is an endlessly fascinating book, one that spy buffs will return to again and again. Spy novelists take note, too: as a research tool, it's invaluable.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　David Pitt

Book Dimension:

length: (cm)20.8 　　　 　　　　　 　 width:(cm)13.8