It is December 31, 1950, in East Berlin. Jack McAuliffe, along with several other more seasoned operatives from the CIA are waiting for a defector to show up. When the high ranking Russian intelligence officer appears he says that he can identify a mole in Britain’s MI6.  Jack’s boss, Harvey Toriti, also know as the Sorcerer, begins to interview and evaluate the information the defector gives him and in the end makes the determination that the information looks good, the defector genuine and recommends exfiltration.  When the exfiltration takes place a few weeks later, however, the defector and his wife are arrested and the police swarm the safe house where the Sorcerer and his Apprentice, Jack, are waiting. Escaping from the safe house and the from the Russian and East German agents sent to capture them, the Sorcerer’s team regroups in West Berlin and tries to figure out what happened. The conclusion is inescapable: there is a mole who warned the Russians about this defection.

The Company is the story of  the CIA during the forty years of the Cold War and the high stakes intelligence gathering that occurred during those years.  The revelations of the moles in MI6, the invasion of Hungary by the Soviets, the Bay of Pigs, and the Gorbachev putsch as well as the internal strife within the CIA itself-pitting political personnel against field operatives and the increasing and debilitating paranoia of James Angleton, a real-life mole hunter within the CIA are all a part of the story of The Company.

One of the most fascinating parts of the story for me was the Gorbachev putsch.  I think most people at the time focused on the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the behind the scenes of the attempted putsch and the maneuvering that occurred by Yeltsin in support of Gorbachev and what the CIA knew at the time was an insight to a piece of history that I knew little about and  found extremely interesting.

Robert Littell’s easy prose, well formed characters, and remarkable research makes this historical novel a joy to read. His attention to detail, and his knowledge of locations makes you feel like you are there where it is happening.  Since the book is close to 900 pages it is all the more important that it was written by such a masterful story teller.   This is however, a real spy vs. spy story, with the value of gathering information, developing sources and analyzing information as the basis of the story, rather than the exciting heroics that you see in James Bond movies, but because of that emphasis it is all the more satisfying, since you get to see the step by step revelations, the sudden insights, and the just in time information that makes the puzzle whole.  

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian, Keith and Ken

Book Study Worthy: Yes!

Read in ebook format.