Very thorough and extensive story of a secretive and complicated figure in history. Chonker of a book with lots of details, some fascinating, some that feel long. Interesting to read but took me a long time to get through. Great for spy readers looking for more stories after the WWII icons, as this tackles the next era of spying with all kinds of international Cold War stories.

Frank Wisner was one of the most powerful men in 1950s though few knew who he is. Wisner masterminded some of the CIA’s most daring and controversial operations in the early years of the Cold War. The Cold War is not the start of Wisner’s intelligence career, he was a spy under General William “Wild Bill” Donovan in WWII. The stories from his time in Europe are wild! Wisner did face a few demons, including bi-polar disorder that ended up debilitating him.

Douglas Waller shares Frank Widner’s story in a wonderfully narrative way, and is so incredibly well researched (We know I love research!)

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton. #TheDeterminedSpy #NetGalley