The Adventures of Chester: Sunday Reviews

[I've decided to continue what I've done the past couple of Sundays: review a book or two. So here are this week's reviews . . . UPDATE: Some of the Amazon links may be screwy below, as in displaying the wrong product. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for them to set themselves just right. I'll see what I can do.]

This week's theme is intelligence agencies.

Mrs. Chester loves to watch Alias, the ABC tv show, purportedly about the CIA, but really about a bunch of yahoos that chase shadowy cult-like worshippers of some would-be Nostradamus figure around the globe. At this point in its airing, it's really turned into more of a soap opera than anything else. No terrorism, no Al Qaeda, no Muslims. Here we are in what is widely deemed a "generational conflict" with militant Islam and ABC can't even include it in a show about the CIA? Forget it. Well, at least Jennifer Garner is easy on the eyes.

I have similar misgivings about the Fox series 24. I've only watched a few episodes, but it seems to rely more on soap opera plot devices, and outlandish terror plots, than anything comparable to what might actually be happening today. At least it includes Islam here and there. Nothing too memorable overall though.

The BBC TV series MI-5 however, is fantastic. This summer, when my hard-drive crashed and I was without a computer for nearly a month, I got pretty bored. So, having discovered MI-5 on the A&E network in the fall of 2003, and then always wondering why they quit showing it, I ordered it from Amazon. The first season was so good, I made short work of it and ordered the second season. Even better! I love this show!

MI-5 tells the stories of several members of the British Intelligence Service, known as MI-5, or 5. There is just enough of a blend of character development and outstanding plot work to make you come back for more and more. The IRA, Al Qaeda, criminal organizations, all the bad guys who are . . . well, who actually exist, are included. Moreover, it contains all manner of ideas that ring true: bureaucratic turf wars with MI-6, bureaucratic turf wars with the US, bureaucratic turf wars with Scotland Yard, the many pitfalls that may befall one in the line of duty, the ways that being an intelligence officer is corrupting of one's personal life, of one's confidences, and ultimately, of one's morals.

One of the episodes in the second season foretells the London bombings of this summer. The creators do not pull punches in their portrayal of militant Islam within England, and that particular episode, which I watched in late July, was chilling when compared to the public statements of some supporters of the 7/7 bombers.

Even better: if you saw some of the episodes on A&E, you'll still get your money's worth because the original BBC versions run without commercials for 59 minutes, and had to be edited for American TV. So there's 15 minutes in each episode that you've missed out on.

Thus far, there's only been one minor detail that I would quibble with: the effective blast radius of one block of C4. I think they made it a little larger than it should be. But that's really pretty minor, eh?

I can't recommend this series enough. I don't think there's anyone who visits this website who wouldn't enjoy it. Even if it's way off the mark as to how MI-5 really is, and I doubt that . . . it's still good enough for me. Season 3 comes out January 31st! Can't wait for that!

Gideon's Spies:The Secret History of the Mossad is entertaining, and certainly does its best to cover all the bases: the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, the death of Princess Di, the Iran-Contra scandal, the Gulf War, the Munich Olympics, Robert Maxwell, the Israeli nuke program, the spy in the Clinton White House, etc etc etc. So there are few stones left unturned. But as to whether it's all true . . . I seriously doubt it. There's just too much here that counts as circumstantial evidence, or speculation. The author does seem to have garnered quite a few high-level interviews though, and used those to the best of his ability to piece things together. But I'm still left wondering. In the end, I dont' trust it, though I was entertained. If nothing else, it serves as a primer for the types of intelligence collection and covert action that might have surrounded a variety of key international events during the cold war. At worst its a pack of entertaining half-truths. So that's not too bad.

The work needed better editing. There are flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks. When returning to where the author started a certain sequence, the reader is left wondering if all the background hindered his understanding of what's taking place. The author frequently uses poor analogies to illuminate the thinking of agents as well, which are painful to read.

One interesting tidbit: the Mossad supposedly keeps track of a large number of "sayanim" who are not agents, or operatives, just Jews all over the world who can be called upon to help out if needed. People working in customs, or shipping, for example. I thought this was an interesting concept. Distributed intelligence-gathering you might say.

All told, there are probably better books out there about espionage in general, but this one is at least entertaining.

Here's the disclaimer: I haven't finished Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy yet. Here's why: I can't stand it. The only reason to buy this book is to learn a small bit about the training regimen at The Farm, where new operatives are trained. Other than that, forget it. I don't think I've ever read a more whiny memoir, and I hope to never have to. The author is just plain awful . . . she is an insult to her profession and institution. Thank goodness she no longer works there. That's all the ink I'm wasting on this one. If you must know more, read some of the Amazon reviews.

More reviews next week!

Posted by Chester on October 23, 2005 10:21 PM to The Adventures of Chester