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Average Customer Rating:

MI6 huh ?

Customer Rating:

I had read "Kilo17", and was very surprised to find out about this book from Ferguson. Well, really, how much of an expert can he pretend to be, given he has barely spent a year or two with 6 ? That's what he says in his first book, when he explains how he ended up assigned to HMCE. Mind you the book content is not uninteresting, but nothing you can't find anywhere else through open sources. Which confirmed my impression of a very relative field "expertise" from the author.

A great place to start

Customer Rating:

This is clearly designed to be an introduction to the subject for the general public so I suppose specialists will know much of what is in here, but even so it is an excellent read, especially good for dipping into rather than reading cover to cover. It is also a fascinating book because it is the only one about the craft of spying written by a real former MI6 officer. The emphasis of the book (the manipulation of people rather than use of bugs and gadgets) is intriguing. But the big question is: what happened to the TV series which the book was supposed to accompany? It's sounds as though it would have been great, but I never even heard that it was on.

the reality of spying

Customer Rating:

So many books on espionage concentrate on James Bond style gadgets. This book avoids that and,as well as chapters defining what intelligence is, developing a cover or new identity,and surveillance and countersurveillance, it has excellent information on the core of espionage which is agent recruitment. This book stresses how to build relationships or if you want to be cynical about it,how to manipulate people. Forget the movies and read this book written by an ex-MI6 officer.