I was never a news nerd, I was never a history nerd until November until the time of the 2016 U. S. election. However, I was not unaware of what was going on in the world, I just wasn't as well informed as I wish I had been. Prior to that election cycle, the only protest in which I had participated was a march up the Grand Concourse, in the Bronx, put on by Veterans Against the War (that would be the Vietnam War, and yes, I am a veteran).

A couple of things occurred to me more than once while reading this book. The first is there are allied intelligence services who don't work on Sunday, and second this narrative could have been the basis for the TV show "Covert Affairs." These observations are trivial when viewed in light of the entire narrative. The blurb calls this book "A highly entertaining account…" which it is. It is also a pretty frightening look at how we got to the post 9/11 country we are today.

When I read a book, be it fiction or non-fiction, I read everything including things like the "Author's Note" at the beginning of THE UNEXPECTED SPY. I find these introductory tidbits highly useful in understanding what I am about to read. As I read the author's note, I considered all that is in the news right now concerning John Bolton's book and how it had to go through a vetting process before he could submit it for publication. "THE UNEXPECTED SPY was submitted to the CIA's Publication Review Board. The board approved the release of this book as long as certain passages or sentences that they deemed threats to national security were redacted. I have left those redactions in place (appearing as black lines on the page) and have tried to maintain the continuity of the narrative around them." This is no Mueller Report full of offensive black marker looking passages; the redactions are simply dashed lines (several quite long), and, overall, the book flows around them quite nicely.

This is the kind of book that looks interesting and proved to be fascinating and informative. There are passages that will make you cringe, maybe even cry, that are balanced with, if not laughter, a bit of Zen realization on the part of a woman who went from an introverted and bullied schoolgirl to a powerful participant in one of the worst times in American history. To say that I have respect for Tracy Walder is an understatement.

I was particularly captivated by Chapter 9, "Truth and Consquences." In it I feel that I learned more about the lead up to the Iraq War than I have ever read or heard before. I could easily quote my reasons for singling out this chapter by quoting paragraph after paragraph. I won't. You need to read them for yourself. We, the American people, were lied to then and are still being lied to today. Why do I believe this woman? Because she holds nothing back about her life or her working experience. And, because I can see no reason for her to lie. This book is as much about Tracy Walder as it is about the failings of government and its agencies.

The majority of this narrative deals with Ms. Walder's experience as a CIA agent. She did some amazing work in the worst of places. And, she retained her humanity and strength of purpose. Her experience with the FBI is a statement on misogyny in law enforcement in this country.

Over the past few years, I have read several books by powerful women. I'm talking about women who have taken their destiny into their own hands and have made a difference. I am adding Tracy Walder to that list of women.

The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists by Tracy Walder is a highly recommended memoir about the author's experiences in the CIA and FBI.

Tracy went from being a student at the University of Southern California and in a Delta Gamma sorority house in 2000 to a special agent in the CIA. She was in the CIA when 9/11 occurred and she soon found herself looking for WMD, tracking chemical terrorists, and identifying and watching al-Qaeda members with drones. She felt compelled to help stop further attacks and left the relative safety of a job at CIA headquarters to go undercover in the Middle East as a counterterrorism specialist tracking al-Qaeda.

Then, wanting to be closer to her family, she went into the FBI where she worked in counterintelligence. The FBI was very different that the CIA. There she encountered blatant sexism and bullying behavior from both trainers and recruits. Walder left the FBI to become a teacher at an all-girls school where she can encourage young women to find a place in the FBI, CIA, State Department or the Senate.
Walder has to describe her job at the CIA in general terms due to national security. During the vetting of the book, the CIA actually redacted many large blocks of her original text. She chose to leave these portions of the text as blacked-out lines rather than rewriting the accounts. While seeing the extent of the redacted blocks of text is mildly interesting, perhaps a better approach would have been to insert a [redacted text] and then continue the story or do a rewrite.

Walder has a lot to be proud of so why not tell her story with a look at being an inspiration to young women. While I do see that a case could be made that there is a hint of bragging look-at-me-and-what-I-did, I also felt like this is her story and it is amazing. She was a young woman working in the CIA during a trying time. If she also needs to talk about her blond hair, makeup, etc., it's okay with me because it is a part of her personality and shows that she can be a special agent at the CIA and care about little frivolous things too. I would encourage young women to read this, especially if they are interested in a career in the CIA or FBI.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Publishing Group.
Review on Amazon and Barnes&Noble after publication

Pretty interesting little memoir, especially the longer piece on the time in the CIA. It is disappointing to read again how dysfunctional the FBI comes off at times. Pretty weak wrap up. An ok read.

The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder is a fascinating inside look at the life of a spy. It takes the reader on a journey from her college days in California to her recruitment by the CIA and the ultimate apex of her career in the FBI. While the book does reveal a great deal of inside information, I found the redactions a bit on the excessive side. I can certainly understand the need to conceal information when doing so is necessary for national security and the personal safety of certain individuals. However, in some ways, the redactions seemed almost arbitrary, rendering it impossible to understand certain sequences of events described in the book. For this reason, I can only give this book 3/5 stars.

* A copy of the ebook is the only compensation received in exchange for this review. *

Tracy Schandler recounts her younger years -- from being bullied in high school to being a more self-aware Delta Gamma girl at the USC, to landing a career spot in the CIA and eventually, the FBI. Tracy is a sucker for history and, like most of us, she wants to make this world a better place. Getting face-to-face with the most wanted terrorists in the early 2000s, she had never once felt afraid. What really led her to start her revolution is learning that the discrimination against women is just as much of a struggle as having to catch and extract information from Islamic extremists.

The events in this book are based on real events, and because of the sensitivity of the information, several parts of the narrative have been redacted. There are also a few typographical errors present. In spite of these, the message that Tracy Schandler (now Walder) conveys is still loud and clear.

The writing style is expository, and there's nothing more enlightening than learning recent history from a primary source. The content is heavy, but the book has the right amount of humor and sarcasm to balance it out. Initially, the fight for gender equality is not inherent, but as the book comes to an end, that seems to be the over-arching theme. The focus shifts abruptly from fighting criminals to fighting double-standards.

Though this book deals with war and violence, it is slow-paced in revealing the ups and downs of being a spy. The narrative slowly builds up and ends with an inspiring call to action.

Trigger warnings include terrorism (e.g., 9/11), hypotonia, graphic injuries, death of a loved one, PTSD, racism, and sexism. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Welcome to the world of the CIA and the FBI, described by a former agent who views the world through serious glasses while sharing occasional humorous views as part of what is primarily an intense landscape.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. It isn’t a book of chapters, each taking a talking point and ripping her former agencies. It is a chronological story of author Tracy Walder’s life, beginning with a brief description of her younger years before joining the CIA shortly before 9/11. As she informs us in the Author’s Note, Ms. Walder shares as much as she can without endangering others connected with her work as well as protecting the secrets she will not talk about due to her “…loyalty…to the CIA, the people of the United States, and the safety of the people of the United States.” Rather than make us guess, she chose to leave the redacted sections in place (appearing as ~~~~~), which I appreciated.

I mentioned humor before, though I am not sure if Ms. Walder always intends to be funny. The result is an intimate look into her thought processes while lightening the mood of the book. Consider the eating habits she adopted during her time in the CIA: “I usually ordered whole wheat roast and egg whites, a fruit bowl, and sometimes a half grapefruit…because I feared that my odd hours would lead to odd illnesses like scurvy.” At other times, the humor becomes incredibly dark and a scary form of truth: “Terrorists were out-serial-killing even the most notorious serial killers by far.”

In various passages the author examines her thought processes, explaining how personal experiences changed her view of the world yet always set her forward toward new goals. Some dealt with the challenges of being a woman in her past positions, while others considered that perceptions of people from different countries might not match the beliefs of those living in America.

I appreciate the work that she and others performed. In the shielded world where most of us dwell, we only hear about the awful and misguided acts that operatives are accused of performing. Reading a personal account from an agent’s point of view is enlightening. Based upon one’s background, I suppose it could be debated that Ms. Walder’s accounts should be taken with a grain of salt. I can only offer a shrug to that and recommend for everyone to read the book and decide for yourselves. Five stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary electronic copy of this book.

Tracy Walder has lived a very different life. She was recruited into the CIA straight from college and the Delta Gamma house. She was part of the CIA during and after 9/11. Her unique experiences surrounding the terrorist cells and her travels made a very interesting and uncommon story.

Well, the only problem I had with this book is the tone. I felt the author was arrogant. She is probably not. She is probably super nice. But, part of this came across as bragging. I know, I know, just my thoughts. However, it is a good read and I enjoyed learning about situations I knew nothing about. Plus, with all her achievements…then she definitely has bragging rights.

This memoir is a true learning experience. Her job with the FBI made me want to come through this book and beat someone up. Plus, the processes and the people involved opened my eyes to the difficulties surrounding keeping the American people safe.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

A strong story about how to empower women in our country. The author takes a look back at her life and is trying to shape a better future. It is frank and honest. It looks at how politics can cloud the decisions made by the intelligence agencies and bring about warped results. It points out the many issues we have here at home that we should be trying to take care. A book well worth reading.

The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder was a highly anticipated read for me after Jet Girl and Inside the Hot Zone. This memoir follows an all-American sorority girl from California as she narrates her experiences as a spy in the CIA, a domestic agent for the FBI, and her current position as a history teacher at an all girls school. After all the sexism you hear about in the military and government agencies, it was interesting to see how supportive the CIA was of her and how successful she was in her job. After the thrill of those adventures though, the opposing disaster of the FBI was doubly disappointing.

Walder does a great job describing the highs and the lows of her travels and assignments, and it is easy to get swept up in the emotions she describes, whether that is excitement or disappointment, anticipation or anger. While not her entire career played out as she had envisioned, it's still nice to see how she took it upon herself to do her best to change the future for the rising generation of women.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Tracy Walder writes of her experiences in the CIA and FBI. She encounters action and adventure but also faces adversity because she is female. She is a strong and interesting woman and hopefully her story will help and inspire other women.

The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder and Jessica Anya Blau was my cautios adventure back into the world of non-fiction. I typically read fiction and if non-fiction is on my list, it is typically in either the spiritual or self-help genre. The synopsis really caught my eye and from the beginning the book is an adventure.

More than anything I think this shows the loyalty and patriotic heart of Tracy Walder...as well as the discrimination and bias against women in the FBI, CIA and other agencies It is also a sneak peek into how life can really be working within these agencies.

Some of the material is redacted by the CIA and Walder chose to include that material in the book. So these sections are more of a mystery to read before and after the blacked out part to see if I can figure out what is missing. I get the challenge- how to you show the reader what it was like as a woman to work in the FBI And CIA without revealing classified information. Still, it was at times intriguing to have these sections redacted and more often for this reader, an exercise in frustration.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tracy Walder and Jessica Anya Blau, and St. Martin's Press for this temporary digital advance review copy for me to read and enjoy. As always, my opinions are my own. #netgalley

Tracy Walder could be any of my daughter's friends. Her story is incredible and quite frankly, more informative than I would have thought the censors would have allowed. Walder's story and grit make this autobiography a quick and thoughtful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC of The Unexpected Spy, by Tracy Walder: Jessica Anya Blau. This story was amazing, informative, entertaining, and inspiring. Tracy, who is currently a teacher in a private Dallas, TX school, started her life as a baby who wasn’t suppose to have use of her muscles and possibly not able to learn. Not so! She began her life as a determined baby, with a mother who believed Tracy was able to succeed at whatever she decided to do. With that encouragement and leadership in her young life, she defied all odds, and despite being bullied at a young age, became a dancer, sorority girl, college graduate, and accepted into the CIA and later, the FBI. Being a female in predominantly male organizations was not always easy, but that didn’t stop her from caring more about protecting her country from terrorist activities than the male criticism of females in their organization, The students in her classroom are truly blessed to have Tracy as their teacher and role model. This was an unforgettable book.

I received an ARC of this one through NetGalley, provided by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
A highly entertaining account of a young woman who went straight from her college sorority to the CIA, where she hunted terrorists and WMDs

When Tracy Walder enrolled at the University of Southern California, she never thought that one day she would offer her pink beanbag chair in the Delta Gamma house to a CIA recruiter, or that she'd fly to the Middle East under an alias identity.

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.

Review:
Post 9/11, Tracy Walder tells tales of her experiences with the CIA and FBI. All names are change in this story but she tells of her background, being called "Malibu Barbie", and all the sexism she endured. Topics that happen ten years post that time period were still happening. Biographies and memoirs are some of my favorites to read. I wasn't expecting to like this one as much. However, this was exceptional. I loved reading about her story. I loved reading how she overcame her obstacles. I had to work, otherwise, I would have read this one all in one sitting. It was fascinating to read and the element of humor made it so much better. I definitely recommend this one.

Though I wasn't able to finish this one that doesn't mean that this novel wasn't well written and interesting. Parts of the book were blanked out and it made me feel like I didn't fully understand what was going on at all times. I'm sure if I sit down when I have a lot of time to read the rest of it I will but right now it's just not the right book for me.

This memoir drew me in from the beginning, but it also left me wishing for more. Rarely do we get an insider’s look at life in the clandestine CIA and FBI agencies. I found most interesting the incredible training she successfully completed and the work surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attack. The redacted parts of the book were blanked out, which I understand but also found annoying. Maybe this was the most logical way to handle the classified information? The book seemed to lose some steam close to the end with her days in the FBI and her large focus on sexism in the department. As much as I enjoyed the book, I never felt connected to the author on a personal level, which normally happens when reading a memoir. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this book with me!

Too much of the book was not finished for to to completely read. But the little I was able to read seemed that it had a good story line just disappointed that I was not able to follow because so much was missing

Working for the CIA
What an amazing memoir Tracy Walder has written! From being a Delta Gamma girl at USC to a counter-intelligence officer in the CIA during 911 and its aftermath, to joining the FBI,Tracy takes the reader to the rooms where it happened. The reader will find parts redacted by the CIA while reading this book. It is amazing how such a young woman instantly earned respect and had the confidence of the CIA at the highest levels. Many times she made this reader feel like I was right there where Tracy Walder was. I especially enjoyed the epilogue to see how she is using her experiences today. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the true story of a college educated woman who is bitten hard by the patriotic bug when 9/11 hits and decides to apply for a job with the CIA straight from college. To her surprise, she is hired and begins a career on the inside of stories that make the front page, giving us a glimpse of a world we can only speculate about. Much of her experiences are redacted due to the highly secretive nature of her work while at the CIA, but it is fascinating to read about how our government is able to gather information and track down the “bad guys.” Hats off to the people in our clandestine services who do this work.

Tracy Walder presents her memoir: a young California college student who is recruited by the CIA, works with the highest placed governmental officials in the 911 era, moves to the FBI for a stint in counterintelligence, then becomes a teacher and mentor in an all-girl’s school. I have mixed emotions about this book: some parts I found interesting, others left me with a haunting sense that this young girl saw the world through a narrow lens. Throughout the book she is concerned about not being taken seriously by superiors, coworkers and male agents from other cultures who do not hold women in the same esteem that she thought she deserved. She presents the FBI in a derogatory light because she was unable to get along with her peers, both in training and in the workforce. Since we only have her side of the story, it would be interesting to hear how she was perceived by others during that short stint.
Walder feels that she has found her place in life mentoring young women and teaching them the to be empowered.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.