Recently, I read three different books featuring CIA chicanery (two were fictional). This was unintentional but I figured since the themes were similar, I’d just batch review them rather than do individual ones.
Libra*****
This was a re-read. I liked it the first time. I loved it now that I: a. had a better since of the Oswald timeline after reading Posner’s Case Closed and b. could appreciate the meta-narrative structure in a way I couldn’t before. This is the only DeLillo book I can really hang with and I think that’s because the subject is familiar but it works. I’m going to re-read it again most likely.
Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control****
This one was horrifying in that the CIA took off all moral guardrails to pursue what they believe could be the ability to manipulate a person through drugs. They got the idea from the sadist doctors imported from fallen Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan respectively. It reminded me a lot of The Power Broker in how a well-intentioned person can go to filling a vacuum of power and lose perspective on everything. We’re fortunate we know as much as we do about MK-ULTRA given that Gottlieb destroyed his records and unless there’s a secret stash buried somewhere, this is probably as good as we’re going to get.
The Ghost****
A thriller featuring a disgraced warmongering Prime Minister who is definitely not Tony Blair, no sir. This would be rote in the wrong hands but fortunately, Robert Harris is capable. He knows how to write these things, how to keep it fun and when to land the plane. This is one of his better books. I saw the movie years ago so I knew a lot of what was coming but now I want to see it again.