Among Us Book - Red Diary: Unofficial

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Despite imminent danger at every twist, Marci embarks on an unstoppable quest to expose the terrifying truth. Only she never anticipated the entangled nebula of dark lies, nor the never-ending wormhole the government would spiral through to silence her forever. Social media networks – (…) – turn out to be excellent at distributing propaganda, misinformation and fake news. (…) The essence of social media – its speed, its anonymity, its love of controversy – made it ideal for Russian influence operation” (p. 357) Thank you to Kate Tilton's Author Services, LLC for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed listening to the book, but would have liked more character development/motivation for some of the people. Somewhere about two-thirds of the way through, the good guys became the bad guys and vice versa without much explanation. Then, the ending just kind of happened and left me hanging. Russians Among Us” by BBC Correspondent and author, Gordon Corera, is a great read about Russian “illegals” i.e., “sleeper agents,” living and operating in Post-Cold War America. Unfortunately, he makes a desperate bid for media relevancy and book sales by going off-topic (or overly broadening the topic) and delving into the 2016 election controversy in the final chapters. This left a bad taste in my mouth. This book is as much about patriotic heroes on both sides, as it is the dedication to professional craft. The painstaking surveillance done by the FBI on illegals was as impressive as the ingenuity and sacrifice by Russian illegals themselves. How crazy would it be to suddenly discover your parents were spies? This unique aspect of undercover life is discussed extensively too. The book jumps in time, from the 2010 spy swap and preceding arrests, to the history of the Russian illegals program and evolution of spycraft during the last century. It makes these transitions in time quite effectively, which kept me engaged. One of those traded by Moscow was an ex-officer from GRU military intelligence, Sergei Skripal. Skripal had spied for MI6. In 2018 the GRU sent two assassins to his home in Salisbury, where he lived under his own name. There, they poisoned him and his daughter, Yulia, in an operation redolent of the 2006 teapot murder of another Russian-born MI6 asset, Alexander Litvinenko.He goes from describing the Russian deep-cover spies in America in what he calls “Ghost Stories” – also the code name of the decade-long FBI investigation into Russian sleepers’ cells – to the “new illegals”, including the “cyber variety”. Russia was shaping up for a new spy war – one in which the nature of espionage – and the role of the illegals – was changing. It was becoming a battle for influence as much as secrets” (p.336)

This tradecraft was certainly ingenious, but what exactly did the spies achieve? None of them succeeded in learning US secrets. The FBI was able to warn off potential targets. Corera takes the view that the illegals were a genuine threat, on a par with the Cambridge spies who devastated British intelligence. The 21st-century Russians could have recruited a new generation of American double agents, he thinks. Weaving several stories on international relations, spy craft and most of all, motives, this book demands detailed reading to keep the who is who and where and when straight. To be sure, Corera senses this and takes time to keep the reader connected through several trips through glittering halls of mirrors of double identities.

Toys

I had been looking for a good book about spies – in particular one that covered recent events and somewhat tied into the real-life stories that inspired The Americans (a favourite TV show of mine). It’s immediately evident Gordon Corera knows what he’s talking about, with this book result of 20 years reporting on intelligence agencies in the West and Russia. Putin’s espionage campaign against the West, how it intensified in the last decade and how the warning signs were missed

The pace of events felt reasonable aswell. It wasn't rushed or stretched out and when more started to happen at once and thrilling things started to happen, the pace adjusted accordingly.Rienzi pens an interestingly thrilling story in Among Us. The story drew me in at Chapter One, when Lou Rollins was first introduced, and it made me wonder what would or could happen next. When Marci was brought into the story, as it revolves around her and her "double-life" and belief in extraterrestrial lives, the author was so descriptive, it kept this reader hooked. It's more than just a story about aliens or whatever life is beyond the stars, but it's filled with action, and heart pounding wonder on both the reader's part and the characters. This is the first book by this author that I've read, but I will definitely seek out Rienzi's other stories as well. I was drawn in by Rienzi's writing style, and how the characters came to life. This read was not only unforgettable, but even worth a second read. The evolution of Russian espionage against the West including its use of ‘cyber illegals’ who continue to manipulate us today and pose a significant threat to the 2020 election

I was somewhat surprised at how unbiased Russians Among Us is. This is testament to the fantastic writing and research of Corera. This book doesn’t have an agenda or political point to push, and it's so much better for it. I developed somewhat of an admiration for both sides and the ingenuity and lengths they went to. The work of intelligence services and illegals is placed on the global scale, with direct impacts laid out in easy to understand ways. The damage done by turncoats on their respective organisations is mentioned too – whether it be Hanssen and FBI, or Poteyev and SVR. Since 2000, the FBI had been secretly watching the group. The bureau had a mole: a disillusioned Russian foreign intelligence officer, Alexander Poteyev. Poteyev gave the CIA details of Moscow’s “illegals”, working under non-diplomatic cover. Some were husband and wife. Their children grew up in the US and Canada, speaking English and knowing nothing of their parents’ real nationalities or furtive occupation. Corera correctly notes that the US and UK were slow to appreciate Russia’s malign intent once Putin became president. In the 00s, MI6 stopped monitoring the SVR’s London office, he reports. By 2005, at least 30 career spies were based at the Russian embassy in Kensington. Typically, the Russians would elude MI5 surveillance. “It was our C team against their A team,” one British counter-espionage official tells him. Without giving away too much of the story, this book had a lot of interesting possibilities, but I will admit that somewhere along the way, I lost a lot of my believability. The buildup was good and the suspense of the early portion of the book was excellent, but the ending was a bit of a stretch (even for sci-fi). It's nearly like it became a different book at some point.Marci Simon is a college English professor who happens to believe in the existence of extraterrestrials. She anonymously writes a blog called Among Us, discussing alien encounters with others through the Internet. Her neighbor happens to be a retired General who also is a believer. Russians Among U s offers a persuasive account of how Moscow had adapted its espionage toolkit in the wake of the 2010 fiasco. Increasingly, the Kremlin uses a range of intermediaries to influence and subvert western politics. Some are oligarchs. Others are “co-optees” – Russians without formal spy training. There are also “cyber” illegals who, in 2016, remotely impersonated Americans on Facebook during the US presidential election. I really enjoyed reading this book and I am definitely thinking about reading more of Kristina Rienzi's work in the future! The ability of undercover illegals to blend into neighbourhoods and society was impressive. I laughed at the regular mentions of the “Murphy’s” hydrangeas - with neighbours debating whether to water them or not post-arrest: “The hydrangeas did nothing wrong” My favorite thread is the "Richard and Cindy Murphy" family of Montclair New Jersey. Whip smart Cindy breezes through American society with degrees from NYU and Columbia. They set up their HQ as charming suburban couple, raising two darling girls and having friends over for ongoing cookouts. Spies.