Brave but arrogant agent with a skewed sense of the world and his place in it

There is no doubt Richard Holm is a brave guy. But his book has to set the record for the use of the personal pronouns "I," "my," and "me." This narcissistic tome of self-promotion made my stomach curdle shortly after i reached page 200.

Uneven, But In The End, a Worthwhile Read

A good book, but terribly uneven, due probably to the fact that a lot of it was vetted in advance by the CIA. But what was left was, for the most part, interesting, if not fascinating. Some parts are compelling -- especially the detailing of his near-fatal air accident in the Congo. On the other hand, Holm tends to ramble -- some of the pages seem like those Christmas letters you get from friends, detailing the activities of each and every family member. Other parts -- especially those that hint of James Bond activities (which, let's admit it, are the main reasons we read books about the CIA) are often so short on detail or drama that they leave the reader puzzled. But on the whole, it's a very interesting look inside the walls and culture of the CIA, or, at least, the CIA of a recent past.

Close but no cigar

Interesting reading to a point. Evidently his first work as it lacks detail in many of the episodes and experiences. In some places it is very rambling and wordy. His early training skips detail that is important. He moves from early boot camp as a private to his first command and then suddenly he is an "agent" in the military intel group and refers from that point on as "ther officers" etc. What happened to OCS? Take a test and skip to officer country in counterintel?