Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer by Victor Cherkashin, Gregory Feifer
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Book Reviews of Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer
Book Review: Greetings Comrade
Summary: 5 Stars
I truely hope you are enjoying your rezidencia in the West. Enclosed is soemthing that will pass as the perfect Christmas present. A caution however not to get too caught up in this orgy of consumer capitalism. Do not soften, remember that the great patriotic struggle is still very much that, and we need devotion to achieve ulitmate victory. Your handling of agent breaker has been exemplary to date.
Congratulations are in order pertaining to the admission of your son into Moscow's Aeronautics Engineering School, and your mother's new billeting into the new state of the art complex outside St Petersburg. They, as well as the greater Soviet, are very grateful of your achievements.
Book Review: Easy and fast transaction. Perfect!
Summary: 5 Stars
The shipment came before the date given. It was a great price that I was happy to pay.Book Review: Wants to answer critics
Summary: 3 Stars
He /was/ there. He tells what he saw and did as a KGB hander of American informers Ames and Hanssen. It's interesting to the casual reader and, to those with a deep interest in these famous Cold War spy cases, quite valuable.
There are brief accounts of some mind-boggling programs, some run by the CIA, others by the KGB. GREAT stuff.
The memoir could have had more narrative color. "It was a dark and stormy night ..." "The sun shone brightly that day ..." That kind of stuff. The author also missed several prime opportunities to give us his impression of major historical figures with whom he had personal contact. What did they look like? What was their personality? You met Kryuchkov and Kirpichenko. Tell us about them!
A similar but richer memoir is Oleg Kalugin's "The First Directorate: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West".
Cherkashin's account of his KGB years reminded me of the bureaucratic paranoid atmosphere of "The Screwtape Letters" by C. S. Lewis.
I agree with Amazon reviewer "ashurbanapli" that Cherkashin in SPY HANDLER is primarily interested in clearing his name. Despite this bias, it's a competent account by someone who was in on lots of interesting stuff.