See No Evil

This insider account by a former member of the CIA's Directorate of Operations is a frank indictment of the agency's tactics and loss of focus in the years leading up to the 9/11 attacks (and inspired the film SYRIANA). The author, stationed in Iraq and the Middle East for many years, forcefully articulates the reasons for the CIA's shortsightedness. Narrator Robertson Dean has exactly the right voice for this book. His deep, rich tone is authoritative without being foreboding, and his pacing keeps the book moving. Dean uses pauses and emphasis to make complicated plot twists easy to follow, which is quite an accomplishment with this book because some names and passages were excised by the CIA. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine