First of all, a huge thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the ARC, I will apologize in advance for the slower review. Over the last two years, I have really delved into the non-fiction genre and this one stood out to me from the get go. I had previously read Jet Girl by @stmartinspress and was blown away, of course, I was in the military and had some similar experiences. When I saw The Unexpected Spy it stood out to me also, another female in what society considers an atypical job role, ridiculous. I was a sorority girl who went into the military, so yes, you can be pretty, smart, and badass. I can't stand the preset defined gender roles. I am proud of Tracy for her outstanding career, for learning to play the game in the boys club, and for being a role model. Are parts of this book hard to read - absolutely - but do it. My husband is borrowing my kindle so he can read as well.

I hard a difficult time with reading this because of the redacted parts. Which means it was easy for me to leave it and come back to reading it again. It had a very interesting premise but I think this one isn’t right for me.

The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder with Jesica Anya Blau is a masterpiece of a read. I love stories that gives a lot (or seems to me) of background of the characters. Not to mention, being told thru first person. I usally do not care for stories in first person, for you only get their point of view. However, the more books that I read written in first person, the more I understand the writing style.
The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder and Jessica Anya Blau pulled at my heart strings, bought many memories to the surface about 9-11, and how that day still effects me. The book is an unique read, taking us behind the scenes of one of the United States darkest days, and how to track down the people responible for the brazen and cruel attack. Tracy Walder goes from a student from University of Southern California, sorority house to the CIA and to the FBI.
I truly, truly enjoyed reading The Unexpected Spy. There is so much I want to say about this ARC I recieved from Netgalley, but I am afraid of giving too much away. Thank you Tracy Walder for this very interesting, insightful, and emotional charged (for me any way) read. I had a very hard time putting this read down.

Thank you to the author Tracy Walder, the publisher St. Martins Press, and NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

I am really glad that I read this book. It is a true story of Tracy Walder who joins the CIA just after graduating from college. She tells the true story of the surveillance and tracking of terrorists lthroughout the mideast and Africa. She tells the stories of terror attacks that never happened because of their diligence. She gives background on how efforts worked and how efforts failed.

The history behind her experience is well worth the read. But I was also amazed by her story of being an attractive, young woman who was working in a dangerous job that was proliferated by men. She was sometimes taken seriously.....sometimes called Malibu Barbie.

It also tells the story of how she overcame many hurdles to become a confident capable agent.

I was more surprised by her stint in the FBI and her experiences there.

She is an amazing woman with an amazing story. Excellent reading.

The censored portions of this book weee so distracting that I was unable to get the gist of the author’s experience. Giving thanks as always to Netgalley for the opportunity to review.

Thank you to NeGalley and the publisher for this ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book a while ago and am now writing the review.

I was really exited to read this book. The author talked a lot about being shy in this “man-heavy” domain, the issues as a female.....and hair cuts and mascara. It was like a a teenagers diary about how awesome she is, but also the challenges she faces.

I get the that what she accomplished working for the CIA and FBI is great and that she yes, faced the gender issues or being from California, but it was not my favorite memoir. Thank you to Tracy Walser for her service.

The Unexpected Spy, by Tracy Walder, has to be one of the most fascinating memoirs I have ever read!
This is her account of as a young woman going straight from her college sorority to hunting terrorists for the CIA. Under an alias identity she flew to the Middle East, post 9/11, and helped to foil terrorist activities. She then became a Special Agent for the FBI where she had to deal with the relentless sexist attitude towards her CIA background. She is currently a history teacher at an all-girls school where she tries to empower young women to aim for bigger careers and responsibilities that some believe only men can have.
Tracy Walder is a true inspiration!
Her story is absolutely fascinating and highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

A quick and interesting memoir about a fascinating life. This has great crossover appeal to nonfiction or adult books for new readers, but would also be enjoyable for fans of the genres.

This is the story of an ex-sorority girl turned CIA officer who ventured into the wide world putting and end to dangerous terrorist activities. I was intrigued from start to finish even though parts were a bit much for my love of the Happily Ever After.

The Unexpected Spy is the riveting story of Walder's tenure in the CIA and, later, the FBI. In high-security, steel-walled rooms in Virginia, Walder watched al-Qaeda members with drones as President Bush looked over her shoulder and CIA Director George Tenet brought her donuts. She tracked chemical terrorists and searched the world for Weapons of Mass Destruction. She created a chemical terror chart that someone in the White House altered to convey information she did not have or believe, leading to the Iraq invasion. Driven to stop terrorism, Walder debriefed terrorists--men who swore they'd never speak to a woman--until they gave her leads. She followed trails through North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, shutting down multiple chemical attacks.

Then Walder moved to the FBI, where she worked in counterintelligence. In a single year, she helped take down one of the most notorious foreign spies ever caught on American soil. Catching the bad guys wasn't a problem in the FBI, but rampant sexism was. Walder left the FBI to teach young women, encouraging them to find a place in the FBI, CIA, State Department or the Senate--and thus change the world.

I don’t know about you but I love tales of badass women! Being a #militarybrat and #militarywife who’s spouse has been deployed stories like this hit close to home.

This book is the true story of how a sorority girl worked hard to join the CIA and the FBI and helped foil terrorist activities across the globe. It is a story of inspiration, of silent heroes and their dedication in whatever they choose to do. The spy memoir also lingers around the topic of prevalent misogyny in the said agencies, and conveys how our protagonist gracefully dealt with it all

When Tracy Walder, still a pretty recent CIA agent, noticed that a lot of terrorists were leaving their home base -- it was her job to monitor them via drone surveillance every day, and she could identify them by name from miles above the earth -- she told her bosses. And it went up the chain. But not far enough up the chain, because just a few weeks later, the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

She felt like it was her fault. She had known something was wrong. She and her colleagues had been begging for more resources for months, but no one listened; and in the end, she thought she just didn't try hard enough.

For the months after 9/11, Tracy worked in the bunker with the other CIA operatives, around the clock, searching camps and caves inch by inch via drones, tracking down the terrorists who had done this work. The director of the CIA delivered She remembers that whenever George W. Bush came in, he was friendly and engaged and made everyone feel safe. If she had voted in the months after the election, she said, she would have voted for Bush.

But three years later, after the Bush Administration falsified CIA terrorism dossiers, including her own, to justify the war on Iraq, Tracy had a different view. She wishes Bush had been brought up on charges for treason.

This is an absolutely fascinating read, and I ripped through it. Agent Walder has had an incredible career, from serving as an analyst in Washington during 9/11 to an operative in Iraq and surrounding countries during the war, then transferring to the FBI so she could fight terrorists but also be able to have a life at home.

Some things I believed after reading this riveting book.

1. As with Amaryllis' Fox's book, Life Undercover, this book gave me just nothing but respect for the CIA, and for the dedicated agents who work every single day, putting their lives at risk, giving their lives in service, to keep America safe. I am genuinely in awe and have such respect and appreciation and gratitude for Ms. Walder, and all those like her. And, of course, it makes me even more furious that the current Administration is denouncing these servants and heroes, in the name of politics.

2. Political interference in the work of the CIA is not a new thing; I understood the Iraq War in a whole new way. It's heartbreaking how many people knew that the United States was doing the wrong thing; how many good people (including the director of the CIA) tried to prevent it; and how actively the politicians at the top worked to lie to the public to serve their own ends. It's going on right now, but not for the first time.

3. I haven't said much about the FBI yet. BE GRATEFUL FOR THAT, FBI. You'd think that the FBI and the CIA are similar entities but....no. For all that Ms. Walder has respect and admiration for the CIA, she has deep frustration for the sexism and jingoism of the FBI. So do I, now.

4. As with Ms. Fox, ultimately, Ms. Walder chose to leave the government in order to work in the private sector, to try to create change. While Ms. Fox has served as a reporter and speaker, Ms. Walder has become a teacher, specifically, a teacher trying to raise a generation of young girls to be great agents and resources for their country.

This is a fantastic book, completely recommended.

(Note: I received an ARC from the publisher with no quid pro quo.) (HA!!! But true!!!!)

This was a really interesting book! I found the differences between the CIA and FBI from a female perspective chilling - I'd like to know if there are other female agents who also feel such a level of misogyny in the FBI. And perhaps (hopefully) a lot has changed in the last 20 years.

Except for the distraction of having entire paragraphs redacted, I found the story engaging. Walder did a great job characterizing her fellow teammates; that gave a level of humanity to the horrors they faced while searching for the terrorists. I thought her ways of coping with the stress of her job to be quite relevant today, as many are facing during this global pandemic.

*Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

Wow what a read!! This book takes us into the secrets of the FBI and CIA and the secrets they hold. Lots of really interesting scenarios packed with twists and turns.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is an engaging memoir that reads like a novel. It is not overly political or heavy with international affairs but it does paint a seemingly accurate portrait of one woman’s experience and her self awareness and growth throughout. I enjoyed this book very much and mostly relish the message of teaching girls to be informed, aware, empowered and active.

I am so grateful to the publisher for reaching out to offer me this book; I had seen it around but I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. And I really, really enjoyed it! I thought the writing was excellent. There are several redacted sections but it never bothered me or took away from the story. I was fascinated by Ms. Walder's time and experience in the CIA. Her recounting of 9-11 and the days immediately following were so compelling and I learned a lot. I was absolutely enraged by her experiences during her time at the FBI. Whereas she never experienced sexism or discriminatory behavior at the CIA, the FBI was a completely different story, and utterly appalling. I do wish she had gone into more detail about some of her accomplishments at the FBI; one big one is referenced in her biography but she never talks about it in the book. It ends somewhat abruptly. But if that's my biggest complaint - that I wish there was MORE - that's a pretty good issue. :)

Overall, a very compelling, very well-written and executed memoir that I'm so glad I spent time with. I read it in two evenings! Definitely recommend, whether you consider yourself a fan of spy stories or not. Walder's story is worth sharing and I'm very glad she did.

The Unexpected Spy is a gripping account of Tracy's time at the CIA and FBI. I found myself invested in her whole journey as she dealt with adversity, sexism, and much more. I couldn't believe the way her peers treated her, and I was especially upset by the way she was treated at the FBI. (+1)

Most of the people that Tracy wrote about were frustrating and compelling. I found myself shaking my head through most of the book. I was dumbstruck at the way she was treated. (+1)

The writing style for the book is simple. Tracy describes as much as she can in detail before it is redacted to protect national security. At first, I was confused, and I thought that I had a faulty copy of the book, but then I quickly realized that sensitive information was removed from the text. Overall, her writing is very smooth and descriptive. (+1)

The organization of the book is straightforward, and I was never confused about what was happening. (+1)

Tracy gives us great insight into the world she experienced for several years. I could picture myself overseas and during training. I often asked myself what I would do in her situation. (+1)

What a fun and exciting read. I Love all things spies and this was one that I was so excited to get and read.

When her life's path crossed that of a CIA recruiter, her path changed. Tracy Walder does an excellent job of rewinding and replaying her journey, allowing us to see and hear her most defining moments. Her career choice forced her to become a grown up, making life and death decisions when most of her peers were still focus'd on the next party or the next exam. Her story reads like a novel until you realize she is taking through the door into a room with so many heavy hitters that decisions have historical significance. Tracy's life was not without it's trials but her story is honest and engrossing. In her shoes, most of us would be too overwhelmed for action. The fact that she lived through these moments and goes on to teach and share with other young women speaks to her character and sacrifice for the good of us all.

I loved this book! It was full of behind the scenes knowledge of the CIA and the FBI and was very well-written. I didn't want it to end, and read it in one sitting. She's right, you would never believe that a sorority girl could become a CIA agent.

I highly recommend this book, 5 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.