Charles’s
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(group member since Oct 04, 2013)
Charles’s
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from the Ask Charles Faddis - Retired CIA Officer and Author group.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Frighteningly Realistic, October 15, 2013By
Sean S. - See all my reviews
This review is from: Caffa (Kindle Edition)
The thing that is most engaging about this story is its believability, which leads to the realization that it could really happen. As a nation we have consistently been guilty of preparing to fight the last war. Could the future be a biological catastrophe? What are we doing to prevent this from happening? We can only hope and pray that there is a real Bill and Aphrodite team out there watching our backs. Charles Faddis must be given full credit for not only writing another thrilling page-turner but also raising the alarm about the potential for biological Armageddon. This is a fascinating read told by an expert in the field.
In the field you don't focus on death. You plan. You prepare. You are hyper vigilant. Your goal is to control all the variables. Sometimes you do. Sometimes you just convince yourself you have. Every once in a while something goes off the rails and then you just react. You do the necessary and you don't ponder it if at all until later when it is all over. Then sometimes the shakes come. I have found that by changing names and places and by shifting events in time I can address most concerns about revealing classified intelligence. I run all my books through CIA for clearance when I'm done writing. They cleared the last one without requesting a single change. I guess that means I'm getting it right.
Anybody got any questions?
Actually, right now I am my own literary agent. I had an agent a few years ago who retired, and from that point on I have acted on my own.Given the nature of what I write, there are issues with ensuring that classified material is not disclosed. I send all my fiction and non fiction pieces to the Publication Review Board at CIA before they are published. CIA clears everything in advance.
Like I said, the more the merrier. Clare is a good friend. Know Woolsey as well.I also am a newcomer to Goodreads really, but think there is a lot we could discuss of value to both writers and students of intelligence work. Much of what is portrayed in fiction is silly. It has no connection to what the work is really like. There are no 25 minute Kung Fu fights on top of skyscrapers. You get sloppy. You get dead. Real fast. "The best engagement is one, which is over before the enemy knows it has begun."
One of the things I try to do in all my novels is to give people a flavor for what it is really like to work intelligence operations undercover. There aren't a lot of high stakes poker games or nuclear-powered wristwatches. There's a lot of deceit. There's a lot of ambiguity. There's a lot of danger. You live and die by your wits and your ability to think two steps ahead of your adversary.I'd love to hear your questions and comments about the reality of intelligence operations.
