Read Online Left of Boom How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and AlQaeda Douglas Laux Ralph Pezzullo Books

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Product details Paperback 320 pages Publisher St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (April 25, 2017) Language English ISBN-10 1250116880

Left of Boom How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and AlQaeda Douglas Laux Ralph Pezzullo Books Reviews

• I heard this author interviewed on the Adam Carolla podcast and knew I had to read his story. This is his account of joining the CIA and working as a field operative in Afghanistan and Syria. His stories are fascinating and his writing keeps the pages turning.
  
  Laux does a great job of telling the stories he believes need to be told. Strangely enough, his style was to just try to tell EVERYTHING without holding back and then let the folks in Washington decide what should and shouldn't be redacted. The results were fascinating and even more informative than I expected. In some cases you could read between the lines of the redactions (which were actual black bars across the page) to figure out what was going on. The details (like the amount of money paid to sources in the field) weren't critical to the story and things kept moving along regardless of the blanks. Some pages were entirely filled with black bars, which was kind of comical but also underscored the sensitivity of the topic. I'm still shocked with how much he was actually allowed to print.
  
  Stories like his should be required reading for all Americans. How else will we ever know what's actually happening in the world and how else will we begin to understand the sacrifices that so many men and women are making on our behalf?
  
  The contents of this book were gripping and the co-writing was excellent.
  
  Thank you Doug Laux for your service to our country.
• A friend of mine recently recommended this book to me. I'm a fan of ground level first-hand accounts of war, and this was a uniquely personal look into what Afghanistan was like for a young hard-charging CIA field officer. In contract to the various high-level academic treatments of intelligence operations in the Middle East, I found this to be a vulnerable and engaging personalized narrative. Mr. Laux transitions from an innocent patriot through exacting field training and ultimately experiences the soul crushing horror of war. It's a story familiar to a lot of military veterans, but the added dynamic of maintaining cover identities - and the toll this took on his psyche - was a sobering albeit much needed addition to the conversation about benefits and costs American global leadership. I found myself wondering how many others who didn't have a cover rollback are suffering in silence somewhere out there in our country.
  
  I have read some reviews that were critical of the many redaction that have been reprinted in this book. They certainly interrupt the pace of the book, especially when the action gets juicy. But for me, the CIA was very much a character in the story. The redaction simply felt to me like its shadowy hand print rather than some overt attempt to add drama. It's true that with even a modest understanding of the regional geopolitics a reader can probably infer what is missing from the page. For me it had the effect of coloring the CIA as a silent character within the narrative.
  
  I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in the human side of intelligence operations.
• A fun read, I quite enjoyed the action and the tales of ridiculous government inefficiency. Doug seems like a hard working guy who gets things accomplished in a bureaucracy that awards keeping ones head down. As one of the extremely few Pashto speakers in the govt he should have been valued more highly.
  
  Some reviewers write that's he's a bit heartless but I think a bit young and blissfully unselfaware especially regarding the relationship drama in the book is more accurate. "I'm going for a quick walk to relax.", "doug you've been gone for 3 hours"...and so on...
  
  The blackened out redacted portions are hilarious as you can guess half of the words and it doesn't seem there are any real secrets in the original to begin with.
• I don't usually read this type of book, but I saw the author's AMA on Reddit so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did.
  
  The book offers a fascinating glimpse into one CIA Case Officer's experience trying to take down a major IED network in Afghanistan. Beyond just being a good read, this book really drives home the personal sacrifices that MANY people make every day to try to bring down terror networks and keep Americans safe.
  
  Irrespective of any personal opinions readers may have about the CIA, and the recent conflicts in the middle east, I think this book gives a valuable perspective on what it was like to be an American C/O in one of the most difficult and dangerous places in the middle east.
  
  Some have criticized this author for breaking an unwritten 'code of silence' to tell this story - and I wonder if the one-star reviews are primarily driven by this group. Although I respect those opinions, I don't fully understand them - I wish more lower-level operatives would tell their stories so that we get a more balanced perspective on u.s. activities here and overseas.
• I picked this book up after hearing an interview with the author on the Adam Carolla podcast.
  
  For what I assume is the author's first attempt at writing, it's pretty darn good. There are some holes, such as, I wanted to know more about his personal relationships with the women in his life. I felt there were pieces that were left out, or not given their due.
  
  That said, I found the insight into his life in the CIA and his interactions with the Taliban to be fascinating to the point I found myself citing the book when speaking with others. Any time a story can leave me thinking about it during my day tells me it's a good one.
  
  So thanks for that.
  
  I recommend this book to anyone who has even a passing interest in either the CIA or the Taliban.