The Secret Agent Books

I would recommend Eric Sterling Books to Anybody. It is best for ages 7-12 but it's OK for teens too, if they don't mind it being short. If you like Action, Animals, Mystery, Danger and of course Fun then PLEASE read these books.

As the leading civilian authority on the U.S. Secret Service, I was greatly suprised and impressed with this "kids" book about the Secret Service. Some very good information about the modern Secret Service is captured in good detail. In addition, there are several nice photographs included. Buy it!

another good book in the Sterling series I loved it. It is exciting. Read to find out are the sister dognappers or are they really trying to help.

Cute story - It has been a slow week for Olivia Sharp, Agent for Secrets. The red phone in her office has not rung in days. But business soon picks up when Olivia begins working on a case involving a weird, feahery birthday present. The Sly Spy is the third book in the series by Marjorie and Mitchell Sharmat, both winners of the Children's Choice Award

"Eric Sterling: Secret Agent" Smugglers on Grizzly Mountain, by Ernest Herndon, is a charming book for children aged 8-12. It is about three pre-teen special agents for Wildlife Special Investigations (WSI), who are assigned a case involving mushroom smugglers. The three children, Eric C., Erik K., and Erik's sister Sharon, are sent off to Alaska where they meet with Martin Bull who shows them what they are to do. After a brief overview of their case, the three are sent to climb Bear Ridge Mountain armed with camping supplies, a telescope, and bear mace. As soon as they reached the summit, the three detectives spotted the mushroom smugglers and radioed down to Mr. Bull. Mr. Bull told Eric to come back down the mountain first thing the next morning. As soon as Eric woke up, he packed up his supplies and headed down the mountain. After his long hike down the mountain, poor, tired Eric was greeted by an unfamiliar man who told him that there was an emergency and that Mr. Bull had to head home. However, Eric smelled something fishy, he knew something was not right. But I won't tell you what it is, you will have to read this book for yourself to know what the exciting ending is to this great book of outdoor expeditions.

I found this on my library's "new books" shelf, and my boy and I loved it. Great for kids as young as 3-4 (like mien), up to maybe 9-10?

Jack is a boy who wakes up to discover he is a secret agent. Some crooks have stolen the Mona Lisa, and he must use his gadgets and his wits to get it back. (Actually, Jack's probably just sleeping. ... Or is he?) We liked it so much, we'll buy another copy for the birthday of my boy's pal, named Jack. (BTW, kids who like this book might also enjoy "Agent A to Agent Z".)

We read it again this morning at breakfast, and we both agreed Meghan McCarthy should turn this into a series. Jack is a great adventure character for young kids, and those are very hard to find. Tintin is way too old. Dora is fine if you're 2 or 3, and maybe Diego to 4, but they're too didactic, constrained, and nowhere near as fun as Jack. Please, Meghan, give us another!

The secret lifes of America's most successful undercover agent.

Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Salvatore Lucania) also knew Sal Vizzini as a "friend," a U.S. Air Force Major called "Michael Anthony Cerra" who for three years conducted an off-and-on palship in Naples with the exiled Mafia capo.

Here, in his own words and for the first time, Vizzini draws on hitherto classified Bureau files to detail the proof of Luciano's inflence from overseas with the syndicate, especially in his beloved New York. It was at Luciano's villa in Rome that "Major Mike Cerra" saw Luciano receive pay off money from Frank Costello; send warnings to such as Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino that their accounts were in arrears (they paid up, plus interest); as judge and jury of a Mafia court condemn or reprieve wayward associates (they called him "the peacemaker").

It was also at Luciano's ville or Naples apartment that Vizzini, during games of gin rummy, heard from The Man his charge that he'd been framed by one-time Governor of New York Tom Dewey, his story of how he helped the U.S. Navy during WWII, how he got the name "Lucky" and why his friends who knew better never used it, and his disclosures about the Mafia, who ran it, and his continuing role in it...indiscretions that led to arrests thousands of miles away.

For 13 years Sal Vizzini was undercover, infiltrating a heroin factory in Palermo, exposing the top-and-underdogs of the heroin traffic in Istanbul, Beirut and Marseilles, blowing up the largest concentration of hard drugs under one roof in a Southeast Asian heroin factory, and finally blowing his cover as a croupier in San Juan while trying to expose the cocaine smuggling that allegedly helped finance Castro's regime.

Sal managed to live to retire, and then to take on the position of Chief of Police, City of South Miami.

Works of Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness is an acclaimed work of literature. I recommend this book for fans of Apocalypse Now.

I heard the author briefly interviewed on the radio when the book came out and thought he had an amazing story. When I got the book and started reading I soon realized it was only a story and he was a very bad fraud. Nearly all the claims were incredible and virtually every one seemed concocted to cover the author in cheap comic-book glory. I imagine it's easy enough to find out if he's fluent in Korean, but beyond that I don't believe one other claim he's made for himself. And now he's "Doctor" Bannon? Let me see the transcripts, otherwise I'd bet that's bull too. I'd believe the Gong Show guy was a CIA hitman before I'd believe this clown.

David Wayne Dilley, who now goes by David Race Bannon, has callously used the genuine issue of child sex trafficking to make himself some cash, both in the form of this book and in speaking engagements. He has recently been arrested for criminal impersonation, as reported here: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/January/06_usncb_049.html

Interpol is an information-sharing service for worldwide law enforcement that does, indeed, help fight child sex rings. It is unfortunate that so many people have been duped by Dilley into believing that Interpol has some assassination wing that violates member-nation laws and goes around killing child pornographers. While it may be viscerally satisfying to imagine that this easy solution exists, it's untrue.

Dilley's story is fantasy from the very first murder, which happens in the fictional tenth story of the (in reality) five-story Byron Hotel in London. The fact that he has mislead so many people into giving him money by abusing the issue of child pornography is just sad.

I recommend strongly against purchasing this book. Better, perhaps, to donate money to one of the many charities that help fight the problem this book pretends to address.

This entire book, which is supposedly "non-fiction" is a fabrication by David Wayne Dilley.

Before reading this book, one should read the following investigation, http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=30325 , which outlines in great details the claims made by mister "Bannon". The article shows, with the exhaustive investigation and research of more than a dozen individuals, how all the claims made by mister Bannon are completely false and were merely created in order to write this book. Interpol has denied having any record of him working for them, and he has recently been indicted in Colorado for theft in relation to this book and seminars that he has taught concerning child pornography in Law Enforcement.

The article is free to the public and the author does not have any monetary connection to the book or the investigation.

This book is so badly written it is unbelievable that it was even published. I would expect more from a high school creative writing class. Corny beyond pale. This is listed as non fiction but I don't believe much of this book is anything but fiction. There are statements that I know for a fact are completely false and inaccurate. For expample the author states that child prostitution is legal in certain countries like Thailand, and there are brothels openly specializing in children. This is complete bull. "Regular" prostitution by adult men and women is not even legal in Thailand. No the police don't enforce the prostitution law in Thailand for the sake of tourism, but they DO strictly enforce child prostitution laws. This book besmudges the reputation of Thailand and the Thai people with such drivel. This is also true for other asian countries as well and is bore out by the recently reported case about the washed up British rock star (I forget his name) that was arrested in Vietnam for engaging in sex with underage girls, after being thrown out of Cambodia for the same thing. This book is written by a nerd dreaming of being James Bond. Don't waste your money. I got the book after some moron on here recommended it in a reveiw they were wrote on another book. Save your money and buy comic books instead.

Readers should be aware that this author was convicted in NC this week on charges of impersonating a law officer. He has not done the things he wrote about in the book, and took the name "Race Bannon" from a cartoon charcter.

It may be a gripping story... but it's all fiction.

Novelists and scriptwriters would do well to study this book. Macintyre weaves a tale from archives and actual accounts, which few spy thrillers have equalled. Eddie Chapman is painted as a unique and complicated character. His British and German handlers come to life as the brilliant and flawed individuals they must have been. Should make a helluva movie!

Great story would make a terrific film. Jaw-dropping exploits combined with a cluelessness that's very engaging. A great read. I see Clive Owen as Agent ZigZag, 'cause he's a ladies' man, a funny guy (who thinks he's suave) and hysterical as a spy.

First: what a character! Eddie Chapman, common criminal, daredevil, ladies' man, double agent extraordinaire recipient of the Iron Cross from Hitler, hob-nobbing with London elite...a blue-collar "To Catch a Thief" spy story.

Second: a gripping can't-put-it-down tale, written like a great novel, chock-full of larger than life characters in larger than life circumstances.

And, as it ended, I was sad that they're all gone...but enriched for having, through Ben Macintyre, known them.

A great book waiting for the film that will do it justice.

This book doesn't just cover the technical aspects of Eddie Chapman's double agent adventures; it uncovers the man behind the story. And he's quite a character. The author has done extensive research on all the people behind the scenes who represented the brains (and the humanity) behind Chapman's work - on both the German and the English sides. It also touches on the amazing contribution of the folks at Bletchley Park who deciphered the Enigma code. Enjoy!

Ah, the story of Eddie Chapman; long awaited and finally produced (actually two of them on the same day, but the thrust of "Zigzag" by Booth ruled it out for me.) I had read Masterman's "The Double-Cross System in the War from 1939 to 1945" which gave Chapman six pages, seen the movie "Triple-Cross", and wondered what the story really was. The movie bore no resemblance to the truth as usual, but finding out the truth in spy stories is always a realm where educated guess and conjecture must fill in the frustrating blanks. Chapman's story rings true in every respect and well worth the read over the 2-4 nights it provides.

Earlier reviewers have exalted or condemned Chapman, so allow me to state that essentially all spies/agents have a screw loose and a yen for danger, excitement and feeling special. They operate with governmental assistance well above the law -- a heady role that must in itself be its own reward. Few if any spies for western democracies have been justly rewarded for their endeavors, as such rewards are generally denied under the rubric of maintaining security. Most ex-agents are relegated to obscurity and penury while some are "terminated with extreme prejudice" (killed) if they are considered as security risks. In this respect, working for a totalitarian government like that in the old USSR has its rewards, as they tend to resettle ex-agents in government positions. There is something about a democracy that makes a spy untrustworthy to the public and unworthy of its respect. As such, Chapman was no exception.

Agent handlers or case officers are usually like Ryde, Chapman's last British handler -- bureaucrats playing it safe and willing to sacrifice their agents. The agents themselves are often despised for their courage and exciting lives -- things well beyond the capabilities of their handlers. In order to be successful, an agent must outwit the enemy and fend off bungled, misguided and often hostile actions by his "friendly" handlers. In Chapman's case he was under suspicion from both sides and faced dangerous situations that would have been insurmountable for a man with less larceny in his heart. That's what makes his case so extraordinary and improbable. But true.

Yes, Chapman was a cad and a career criminal, but many agents feature a dark side. So do many heroes. The difference is that the agent operates outside the law to be successful, and the best training for such activity is survival in a criminal world. Ask any under-cover police officer.

Other reviewers have made an issue about what Chapman accomplished. Few spies other than Burgess, Philby, Hollis, Alger Hiss, Ted Hall, the Rosenbergs, or Penkovskiy make a lasting difference -- even Richard Sorge's impact is disputed from the Soviet archives. Intelligence is made up from a number of small fragments or information, often obtained at great personal cost by unknown sources. And I'm not talking about a case officer like Valerie Plame who becomes a media darling without taking risks. Chapman was an real agent who risked his life repeatedly, made some contributions, and that should be enough. If the reader wants a story with great successes, he will have to look to stories of those traitors listed above who had unusual positions of access to information of particular value to another country. Not every agent saves the world, but many taken together just might. FYI, I was disappointed to see the author use the trendy term "mole", coined by John Le Carre, instead of the proper term "resident agent" that was in use until the 1970s.

With respect to the danger Chapman faced in Germany, it should be remembered that a number of individuals were constantly seeking to discredit or expose him, and if any single one of them had been successful, his life would have been forfeit after a period of torture. I suspect that none of the complaining reviewers would be willing to undertake such risks. Perhaps this is the "Mission Impossible" syndrome whereby we have become conditioned to expect truly impossible feats as requirements to hold our attention.

The author takes great pains to limit his presentation to facts that are confirmed through multiple sources rather than relying on Chapman. No doubt we all would have wanted more of the story, but with the available sources exhausted by this book, we will have to fall back on our own educated guesses and conjecture.

Read the book -- you'll learn a lot about how human intelligence is obtained or not obtained. The author does a good job of research and writing, and if the outcomes are not what we would want -- well, then, that is our problem.