I think it's fair to say that most children have problems with one or both of their parents. Every relationship is different and problematic in its own way. Scott Johnson had a wonderful father who was damaging, in his son's experience, because he served in the CIA.

The book is well-written. Like some of the other reviews I have read, I especially enjoyed reading about Johnson's childhood. As painful as it was, I was also fascinated by his descriptions of Iraq, Baghdad, and other war-torn regions which he covered as a reporter for Newsweek. But I did not enjoy the section beginning with high school up through those chapters before he became a journalist. I think these could have been helped with less detail and more summary.

Still, as I stated above, every parent-child relationship is somewhat fraught. And our experiences are true to us, even if they make no sense to others. What interested me about this most, was the effects the secretiveness had on Johnson. He was devastated by it; he felt compelled to relive his father's deceptions in his own line of work. I've known other children of former CIA employees who did not seem the slightest bit affected by their parent's career or secretiveness. I am not faulting Johnson for his reaction, I just think it was interesting. ( )

Not what I expected based on reading reviews of the book. I was disappointed in the ending (exactly what did the author indicate was happening??). I expected more revelations about his father's career but not much was forthcoming. ( )

The story of a boy growing up with a father employed by the CIA. It is interesting with the exotic locations and the life of travel and constant change. The child grows up and becomes a war correspondent covering the Iraqi war. However lots of stories about the son trying to connect to the father and having the veil of CIA secrecy come between them. At times it felt like the son was a tad bit mentally unbalanced. After a while, as a grown man, people generally gain some acceptance of their past and move on. This author can't, or wont, do that. It is an interesting read and the author writes very clearly and with no small degree of talent. However at some point the book almost begins to feel a little weird in the authors constant need for his father to confess his feelings to him. John Wayne he aint. ( )

This was a really interesting look into the life of a man who is the son of a CIA agent. Johnson takes you through his childhood constantly moving around the world all the way to his time as a war correspondent in Iraq, and shows readers how his father's career affected his life. I loved reading about Johnson's childhood and also reading about his father's childhood and seeing how they were actually quite similar. For the first 3/4 of this book I was completely sucked into this book and had to keep reminding myself that these events really happened (it read like fiction). The last 1/4 of the book did seem to drag on a bit. At times I became annoyed with Johnson's constant complaining about how he doesn't believe his father and his constant search for the "truth" about his father. Other than that my only other complaint about the book would be about the epilogue. What was that epilogue? I was so confused.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found it to be compelling and insightful. I would recommend this book to someone interested in reading about the effects of being related to a CIA agent.

[I received this book from a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. That does not affect the content of my review in any way.] ( )