Life Undercover

Coming of Age in the CIA

De: Amaryllis Fox

Narrado por: Amaryllis Fox

Duración: 7 h y 10 m

Resumen del Editor

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

"Fast and thrilling.... Life Undercover reads as if a John le Carré character landed in Eat Pray Love." (The New York Times)

Amaryllis Fox's riveting memoir tells the story of her 10 years in the most elite clandestine ops unit of the CIA, hunting the world's most dangerous terrorists in 16 countries while marrying and giving birth to a daughter

Amaryllis Fox was in her last year as an undergraduate at Oxford studying theology and international law when her writing mentor, Daniel Pearl, was captured and beheaded. Galvanized by this brutality, Fox applied to a master's program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where she created an algorithm that predicted, with uncanny certainty, the likelihood of a terrorist cell arising in any village around the world.

At 21, she was recruited by the CIA. Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the president. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism center.

At 22, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to "the Farm", where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a Glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity.

At the end of this training, she was deployed as a spy under non-official cover - the most difficult and coveted job in the field as an art dealer specializing in tribal and indigenous art and sent to infiltrate terrorist networks in remote areas of the Middle East and Asia.

Life Undercover is exhilarating, intimate, fiercely intelligent - an impossible-to-pause record of an extraordinary life, and of Amaryllis Fox's astonishing courage and passion.

©2019 Amaryllis Fox (P)2019 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A riveting account of the decade the author spent risking her life in the CIA’s most clandestine unit." (People)

"Gripping...Fox masterfully conveys the exhilaration and loneliness of life undercover, and her memoir reads like a great espionage novel." (Publishers Weekly starred review)

"Extraordinary...[A] remarkable life...Fox engagingly - and transparently - describes her work as an undercover agent for the CIA." (Kirkus Reviews)

Amazing story and writer

Great story and some of the best writing I have seen in years. Highly recommend for young people who are called to service of their country

Absolutely Riveting

I consumed this memoir quickly at first, then slowed to turn bits of it over in my mind like a well worn stone. The insights into the life of a CIA operative are fascinating and complex with the weight of a nation resting on their shoulders. The secret and quirky rituals of the Agency are so interesting and I truly cannot imagine gearing up to bury one's identity and past to become someone other for the sake of a greater cause.
Fox is an excellent writer and while I can see how some think her voice is monotonous I think depth and feeling of her musings teases out her humanity. Her story resonates with me particularly as a mother hoping to leave a better world for the children who will inherit it.

Fantastic

Great book. I'm more of a hammer everything to death type. Listening to her approach was, well a great solution to end the perpetual war in the grand scheme of things.

Honest and transparent

A harrowing, honest account of the polarity the human experience can be comprised of. Truly grateful for her and those like her…

Great, reads like a real novel

Author has masterfully conveyed the life of an undercover agent and the balence of real life.

Melancholy with Depth

The splendid theme emerges late, but the journey to get there is captivating and the reward divine.

It fell flat of its potential

Mrs. Fox's story would have been more interesting if she would have shared more about her missions rather than spending a third of the book talking about her childhood and formative years. Also, they could have found a better narrator as Mrs. Fox's voice was flat and monotone, not the best to listen to for long commutes.

Read by the Undercover CIA Agent

An extremely interesting autobiography. By a brilliant, beautiful, young woman studying Theology and international law. Decides to work with the CIA be prepared to learn a lot.

Incredibly interesting life

It’s almost hard to imagine someone living the life she did, even before joining the CIA. The first 3/4 are a page turner, then it develops into a thoughtful introspective on humanity.

So good!

Loved it. Not only her story but her writing is beautiful. I would read this again.