The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal

“Howard Blum writes history books that read like thrillers.”-New York Times

A retired spy gets back into the game to solve a perplexing case-and reconcile with his daughter, a CIA officer who married into the very family that derailed his own CIA career-in this compulsive true-life tale of vindication and redemption, filled with drama, intrigue, and mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Goodnight, It's a real-life thriller whose stunning conclusion will make headline news.

On a sunlit morning in September 1978, a sloop drifts aimlessly across the Chesapeake Bay. The cabin reveals signs of a struggle, and “classified” documents, live 9 mm cartridges, and a top-secret “burst” satellite communications transmitter are discovered aboard. But where is the boat's owner, former CIA officer John Paisley?

One man may hold the key to finding out. Tennent “Pete” Bagley was once a rising star in America's spy aristocracy, and many expected he'd eventually become CIA director. But the star that burned so brightly exploded when Bagley-who suspected a mole had burrowed deep into the agency's core-was believed himself to be the mole. After a year-long investigation, Bagley was finally exonerated, but the accusations tarnished his reputation and tainted his career.

When Bagley's daughter Christina, a CIA analyst, married another intelligence officer who was the son of the man who had played a key role in the investigation into Bagley, it caused a painful rift between the two. But then came Paisley's strange death. A murder? Suicide? Or something else? Pete, now a retired spy, launches his own investigation that takes him deep into his own past and his own longtime hunt for a mole. What follows is a relentless pursuit to solve a spy story-and an inspiring tale of a man reclaiming his reputation and his family. It's a very personal quest that leads to a shocking conclusion.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

1140802940
The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal

“Howard Blum writes history books that read like thrillers.”-New York Times

A retired spy gets back into the game to solve a perplexing case-and reconcile with his daughter, a CIA officer who married into the very family that derailed his own CIA career-in this compulsive true-life tale of vindication and redemption, filled with drama, intrigue, and mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Goodnight, It's a real-life thriller whose stunning conclusion will make headline news.

On a sunlit morning in September 1978, a sloop drifts aimlessly across the Chesapeake Bay. The cabin reveals signs of a struggle, and “classified” documents, live 9 mm cartridges, and a top-secret “burst” satellite communications transmitter are discovered aboard. But where is the boat's owner, former CIA officer John Paisley?

One man may hold the key to finding out. Tennent “Pete” Bagley was once a rising star in America's spy aristocracy, and many expected he'd eventually become CIA director. But the star that burned so brightly exploded when Bagley-who suspected a mole had burrowed deep into the agency's core-was believed himself to be the mole. After a year-long investigation, Bagley was finally exonerated, but the accusations tarnished his reputation and tainted his career.

When Bagley's daughter Christina, a CIA analyst, married another intelligence officer who was the son of the man who had played a key role in the investigation into Bagley, it caused a painful rift between the two. But then came Paisley's strange death. A murder? Suicide? Or something else? Pete, now a retired spy, launches his own investigation that takes him deep into his own past and his own longtime hunt for a mole. What follows is a relentless pursuit to solve a spy story-and an inspiring tale of a man reclaiming his reputation and his family. It's a very personal quest that leads to a shocking conclusion.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal

The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal

by Howard Blum

Narrated by Steve Hendrickson

Unabridged — 10 hours, 6 minutes

The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal

The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal

by Howard Blum

Narrated by Steve Hendrickson

Unabridged — 10 hours, 6 minutes

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Overview

“Howard Blum writes history books that read like thrillers.”-New York Times

A retired spy gets back into the game to solve a perplexing case-and reconcile with his daughter, a CIA officer who married into the very family that derailed his own CIA career-in this compulsive true-life tale of vindication and redemption, filled with drama, intrigue, and mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Goodnight, It's a real-life thriller whose stunning conclusion will make headline news.

On a sunlit morning in September 1978, a sloop drifts aimlessly across the Chesapeake Bay. The cabin reveals signs of a struggle, and “classified” documents, live 9 mm cartridges, and a top-secret “burst” satellite communications transmitter are discovered aboard. But where is the boat's owner, former CIA officer John Paisley?

One man may hold the key to finding out. Tennent “Pete” Bagley was once a rising star in America's spy aristocracy, and many expected he'd eventually become CIA director. But the star that burned so brightly exploded when Bagley-who suspected a mole had burrowed deep into the agency's core-was believed himself to be the mole. After a year-long investigation, Bagley was finally exonerated, but the accusations tarnished his reputation and tainted his career.

When Bagley's daughter Christina, a CIA analyst, married another intelligence officer who was the son of the man who had played a key role in the investigation into Bagley, it caused a painful rift between the two. But then came Paisley's strange death. A murder? Suicide? Or something else? Pete, now a retired spy, launches his own investigation that takes him deep into his own past and his own longtime hunt for a mole. What follows is a relentless pursuit to solve a spy story-and an inspiring tale of a man reclaiming his reputation and his family. It's a very personal quest that leads to a shocking conclusion.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.


Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Nail-biting. . . . Blum’s access to Bagley’s writings and a myriad of other sources enables him to craft a page-turning narrative. This reads like a John le Carré novel come to life.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

By going back and forth in time, Blum cleverly makes his pieces part of agency folklore, terrific stories in their own right. This is the Cold War at high noon, missiles loaded, when spies were the front-line troops. If you have even a passing interest in the period, the book will be catnip. . . . The period details are so atmospheric and rich that it would be no surprise to see Kim Philby make a guest appearance. . . . It would be easy to get lost in all this, but Blum lays out his pieces clearly, and entertainingly. — Washington Post

"Howard Blum, a former New York Times reporter, has written an exciting, page-turning account of this internecine warfare, why Bagley persisted in fighting it, and the conclusions he finally reached." — Commentary

"An eye-popping, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat thriller." — Linda Hitchcock, BookTrib

Kirkus Reviews

2022-04-12
Cold War–era CIA intrigue, dramatic and brutal.

Prolific author and reporter Blum tells a striking story, though his breezy narrative may put off readers familiar with more judicious CIA–related books, Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes foremost among them. Blum’s central character is Tennent Bagley of the CIA’s elite Soviet Bloc division. He was working in Switzerland in 1962 when KGB agent Yuri Nosenko offered his services. After interviewing him, Bagley was convinced that Nosenko was precisely who he claimed to be. Promising to deliver secrets, Nosenko returned to Moscow and Bagley to Washington, D.C., where James Angleton, head of CIA counterintelligence, suggested that he read the file of Anatoly Golitsyn, another KGB agent who had defected in 1961. To Bagley’s amazement, Golitsyn had recounted incidents and operations identical to Nosenko’s. He concluded that Nosenko was a bogus agent sent to impugn Golitsyn but also that this indicated the presence of a highly placed mole inside the CIA. The plot thickened when Nosenko defected. Flown to the U.S., he responded to Bagley’s questioning with a mixture of boasting, self-promotion, contradictions, and lies, but he insisted that his defection was genuine. Nosenko was locked alone in a small, dark room for more than three years, taken out only for interrogation. Still maintaining his innocence, he received his freedom, an apology, compensation, and permission to remain in the U.S. Unconvinced and certain he was the victim of self-serving CIA politics, Bagley retired only to be galvanized years later by the apparent death of a CIA official, unconvincingly described as a suicide. Although he was barred from CIA archives, he launched an exhaustive search and ultimately concluded that the purported victim, John Paisley, was the mole. Blum admits that nearly everyone involved, Bagley included, was dead when he began his research. While many passages are pure speculation, tolerant readers will enjoy a largely entertaining spy story full of cutthroat CIA infighting and the occasional cut throat.

Novelistic, fast-paced history.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940176093384
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 06/07/2022
Edition description: Unabridged
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