The Interrogator

An Education

By: Glenn L. Carle

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Here are the confessions of a senior CIA operative who ran the interrogation of one of the highest profile al-Qaeda captives. Carle’s journey is a tale of international intrigue, deceit, and betrayal—and an extraordinary and intimate portrait of our war on terror.

To his friends and neighbors, Glenn L. Carle was a wholesome, stereotypical New England Yankee, a former athlete struggling against incipient middle age, someone always with his nose in an abstruse book. But for two decades, Carle broke laws, stole, and lied on a daily basis about nearly everything. He was a CIA spy. He thrived in an environment of duplicity and ambiguity, flourishing in the gray areas of policy.

The Interrogator is the story of Carle’s most serious assignment, when he was “surged” into the global war on terror to interrogate a top level detainee at one of the CIA’s notorious black sites overseas. It tells of his encounter with one of the most senior al-Qaeda detainees the United States captured after 9/11, a “ghost detainee” who, the CIA believed, might hold the key to finding Osama bin Laden.

But as Carle’s interrogation sessions progressed, he began to seriously doubt the operation. Was this man, kidnapped in the Middle East, really the senior al-Qaeda official the CIA believed he was? Headquarters viewed Carle’s misgivings as naïve troublemaking. Carle found himself isolated, progressively at odds with his institution and his orders. He struggled over how far to push the interrogation, wrestling with whether his actions constituted torture and with what defined his real duty to his country. Then, in a dramatic twist, headquarters spirited the detainee and Carle to the CIA’s harshest interrogation facility, a place of darkness and fear, which even CIA officers dared mention only in whispers.

A haunting tale of sadness, confusion, and determination, The Interrogator is a shocking and intimate look at the world of espionage.

©2011 Glenn L. Carle (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Glenn Carle’s The Interrogator is a remarkable memoir—for its searing personal honesty, for its portrait of the amoral secret bureaucracy of the CIA, and most of all for its revelation of how a decent American became part of a process that we can only call torture.” (David Ignatius, New York Times best-selling author and columnist for the Washington Post)

Interesting read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in non-fiction and the US Intelligence Community. If you have any previous knowledge about the CIA or any other Gov't Agency that interrogates, debriefs, or interviews HVTs, this book will be of interest.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting parts of this book were in the little details in the authors observations. They were very revealing of his character and motivation. The least interesting was his over-indulgent, self-aggrandizing. Although, that is to be expected from a CIA Case Officer.

Which character – as performed by Malcolm Hillgartner – was your favorite?

Hillgartner did a fine job narrating all the characters.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened to this book while traveling for work. I appreciated the breaks required when I had to turn off the iPod for various reasons. The book was interesting but not necessarily one I could not put down.

I waited for it to unfold. It didn’t

The story revolves around the interrogation of one person. I was expecting more. The constant use of the word “redacted” 100s of times instead of editing around was annoying

Solid Story Told By Someone In-the-Know

Only a couple of discrepancies throughout, such as some pronunciation of acronymed phrasing or titles and a significant amount of redactions (not the fault of the author) that cause significant confusion in some portions of the storyline (if you didn’t live it, you wouldn’t put it together). The one thing I didn’t find compelling or useful to the story was the righteous self-characterization of the author nor the preachiness of how X was good and Y would have been better if they only had let him action on it. This weakens the story’s impact, because any great story will convey those lessons and feedback. For me, it was much too political a way to throw a last punch at people they did not admire. Overall, it’s an excellent portrayal of missteps and a cautionary tale for how we can avoid repeating it going forward.

didn't expect this.

great listen.
intriguing,comedic,down to earth and educational
will recommend this to anyone who likes the genre.

great book very facinating story teller was good

great liked it and the story tell kept my attention would listen tomore read by him

This is QUITE an Education

Would you listen to The Interrogator again? Why?

Excellent audiobook -- story and delivery.

Have you listened to any of Malcolm Hillgartner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Any additional comments?

This was a most profound book. I learned a great deal of the type of individual doing this work and I was very proud of the stories.

REDACTED

The narrator was good.
The story had potential to be pretty good but all the redactions became ridiculous and made the story choppy. I couldn't even finish the book.

the title of this book should be "Redacted"

After 28 of 40 chapters I gave up on all hope that this book would engage my attention, and force me to finish it. The redactions distracted me from the broader story, and what the interrogator actually achieved, while questioning a high priority detainee.

Excellent well stated

I am happy I listened to this book. He presents a good case from his experience for living up to the responsibility of the power we have. I learned a lot from this book. I have been listening to a lot of books written by those who lived through our most recent wars, I am glad some one like author wrote from his personal experience.
I also like the narrator. I have heard him read other books. He has a good voice for this kind of book.

Boring

A lot of stuff in this book was redacted and it's kind if a boring book.