Iverson spent twenty-two years working for the FBI. The most notable part of his time was spent in the Russian Federation where he watched the democracy created under Yeltsin slowly deteriorate into the dictatorship of Putin. Iverson spends a good time of the book describing how the "new" Russia was out to create the old Soviet Union.

He discusses how while working as a liaison with Russian intelligence, they spend the majority of their time together trying to "turn" the Americans. From offers of money and other favors, the try to get the American Agents in compromising positions, or preying of those who are vulnerable because of the personal failures (extra marital affairs, drug use, alcoholism). These compromised agents are then mined for any information they have or that they can get.

But it is his understanding of the "culture" of the Russian psyche that is the real pleasure of this book. Anyone with a Russian genealogy has stories about what a dark hole those in Russia live in and how, under Putin, you are always being watched and others are listening to you. The Russians didn't invent paranoia but they've spent hundreds of years perfecting and creating it.