Naveed Jamali

I try not to swear for the most part, but most of what popped into my head while reading this book was profanity.

Jamali is a narcissistic jerk who's convinced himself he is super-duper amazing. The book synopsis gave me the impression that he actually became a "double agent," and that he initiated this, and his relationship with the FBI, all by himself. No, he did not. In reality, his parents had a very minor relationship with the FBI and a Russian diplomat who recruits assets in the U.S. (This relationship consists of the diplomat ordering printed material from his parents' research company every few months and then the parents relating to the FBI what exactly he ordered.) Jamali decides he wants to be a "spy," like all the people he hears about in books and movies, and pushes his parents out of the way to become the new contact for the FBI. This is pretty much all that happens. The diplomat goes back to Russia after his 3-year contract is up, so there's not even an arrest.

I really can't say enough about how obnoxious Jamali is. He keeps repeating how funny he is and how much people like and respect him, but nothing about the interactions he recorded gave me that impression. He prattles on about his reckless, fast driving and he obviously thinks this makes him cool. He revels in the fact that he keeps his reckless driving a "secret" from the FBI.

He repeats many times how "cheap" the diplomat was (he apparently took advantage of the free materials the business offered), yet he also mentions many times that he left generous tips with every single purchase. He never reconciled these observations.

Jamali decides he has to come up with a "whole new persona" for when he was around the Russian diplomat. He states, "I got to be a much bigger a**hole with [the diplomat] than I ever was in real life. Constantly impatient. Quick to anger. Cocky. Obnoxious. Self-absorbed." (p 128) Ha! Nope, this is actually his true self. The fact that he thinks otherwise is both hilarious and disconcerting.

A few asides: There's quite a bit of language, and the authors have a bad habit of listing complete addresses when describing where Jamali was headed. As in, even the zip codes were included. This got really old.

I would highly encourage potential readers to save their precious time and skip this read. I wish I had read reviews beforehand and done the same.… (mere)