Fascinating account, largely focused on Tenet and what Suskind calls the "invisibles" -- career intelligence officials and operatives who do the ground-level work of trying to infiltrate and thwart terrorist plans. Bush comes off in familiar fashion as uncurious about, and insulated from, the substantive analysis from CIA or others that provides more grey than black and white; however, the exploration of that proclivity lacks too much depth here, and seems to fall back on high-minded rhetoric. But Suskind clearly did not have any sources from Bush's inner circle--the strength of this book is its peak into the quotidian grind of those whose job it is to watch obsessively for the footprints of shadowy characters in distant lands, and for whom rest and certainty remains elusive, and ultimately abstract.

. . .


My dad, who is 79 years old and spends his days reading mystery novels by the likes of Richard Patterson, gave me his copy of this book about a year and a half ago and said "You've got to read this." I finally picked it up last week--not bad so far. (I read a good chunk of Ron Suskind's other book, "The Price of Loyalty", about Paul O'Neill and how the Bush tax cuts were developed, in the Union Square Barnes & Noble a few years ago). I wasn't much for reading more nuts-and-boltsy accounts of the "war on terror" or Iraq war the first few years, unable to stomach anything that wasn't largely dissentive and polemical. And maybe this book is still pretty critical--hardly detached history--but as it bounces along I feel like I'm learning something, rather than just making my blood boil. The introduction was most compelling I've ever read--like the part of an action movie before the credits.