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It really is a memoir, which is to say, it kind of rambles on through the CIA career and post-CIA work of a case officer who rose to become a moderately senior leader within the Agency. It doesn't have the swashbuckling Western-style breathless narration of some of the works more tightly focused on one event or country. It also doesn't have the high-level sweep of some other works more focused on leadership or policy. Instead, it takes the reader on a journey with Jack Devine and his career. He doesn't keep to a strictly chronological narrative, which is fine, but sometimes his prose can do a lot of switching back and forth and wandering even within chapters, leaving a reader wondering who exactly he was just quoting or talking about or if that last reference was for the flashback or main narrative. Needless to say, I had to reread a few bit and pieces to keep with Devine's rambling flow.
Overall he sings the praises of the CIA and most everything he was ever a part of. I suppose it is in the nature of memoirs to be self-serving; Devine's is no exception. All of the covert action he was a principle actor in was great and worked out great and it's great that the CIA undertook it and they did it just swell. It's just too bad the kidz these days didn't follow those swell examples and got off-track when they tried it out... Speaking of covert action, I think the main reason a person picks this up is Devine's embrace of covert action, both as a tool of U.S. policy and also as rightfully belonging to the CIA. His rules for covert-action-done-right are spelled out in different parts of the book (differently), but cover similar ground:
Viable partners in place
Real-time, accurate information
Adequate resources
Bipartisan political support
A direct threat to U.S. security
Proportionality
A reasonable prospect for success
Identify a legitimate enemy
Determine on-the-ground conditions
Ensure adequate funding and staff
Find legitimate local partners
Determine proportionality
Acquire bipartisan political support
It's almost like he forgot he already listed his criteria, then listed them again, but from memory...
Speaking of self-serving, he is keen to convince the reader that he, like every other super bureaucrat, leaves his politics at the door. Except when he expresses his concern over some of his colleagues carrying out their conservative agenda at work. Or when he admits, after trying to convince the reader how not-partisan he is, that he worked on the Obama campaign... Also in the self-serving category is the paid advertising of all the commercial work he's been a part of since Agency retirement, though for those unfamiliar with risk management, it may make for mildly interesting and informative reading.
He carefully cites open sources for much of what he writes; if you were expecting a tell-all expose, this is not your book... However, he does add context and color to the events he was a part of, and some of those were pretty significant. He can be self-effacing and doesn't seem to mind passing along humorous anecdotes that come at his expense.
The end of the book is perhaps the most painful to read, as he pretty much throws darts at what he thinks the future holds and what the U.S. is going to do about it. It's almost like you're having a beer with him and solving all the world's problems (so why not? pour yourself one when you get to the end). In some cases, he seems pretty close to the mark, though in others, his prognostications seem quaint or even wildly off base. It bears remembering that he was a case officer and not an analyst, and much about which he waxes philosophic in closing was outside of his own experience as well. In other words, just because he was an "intelligence officer" doesn't mean he has any magical insight into much of this, which is now apparent thanks to the years intervening since publication.
For those interested in covert action, this probably rises to the level of must-read, both because there is some worthy meat in here, and also because anyone else interested in covert action will have read it and will mention it. For those with little background in the subject of intelligence but looking for something informative, this would be a good read. For most anyone else--meh. It's not that entertaining, it's not that informative in a more general sense, though it's not awful.