The Company We Keep

A Husband-and-Wife True-Life Spy Story

Robert Baer, Dayna Baer

$45

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc)
15 March 2012

True stories

A real-life ""Mr. and Mrs. Smith"" by the bestselling CIA operative Robert Baer and his CIA ""shooter"" wife

Robert Baer was known inside the CIA as perhaps the best operative working the Middle East. Over several decades he served everywhere from Iraq to New Delhi and racked up such an impressive list of accomplishments that he was eventually awarded the Career Intelligence Medal. But if his career was everything a spy might aspire to, his personal life was a brutal illustration of everything a spy is asked to sacrifice. Bob had few enduring non-work friendships, only contacts and acquaintances. His prolonged absences destroyed his marriage, and he felt intense guilt at spending so little time with his children. Sworn to secrecy and constantly driven by ulterior motives, he was a man apart wherever he went.

Dayna Williamson thought of herself as just an ordinary California girl -- admittedly one born into a comfortable lifestyle. But she was always looking to get closer to the edge. When she joined the CIA, she was initially tasked with Agency background checks, but the attractive Berkeley graduate quickly distinguished herself as someone who could thrive in the field, and she was eventually assigned to ""Protective Operations"" training where she learned to handle weapons and explosives and conduct high-speed escape and evasion. Tapped to serve in some of the world's most dangerous places, she discovered an inner strength and resourcefulness she'd never known -- but she also came to see that the spy life exacts a heavy toll. Her marriage crumbled, her parents grew distant, and she lost touch with friends who'd once meant everything to her.

When Bob and Dayna met on a mission in Sarajevo, it wasn't love at first sight. They were both too jaded for that. But there was something there, a spark. And as the danger escalated and their affection for each other grew, they realized it was time to leave ""the Company,"" to somehow rediscover the people they'd once been.

As worldly as both were, the couple didn't realize at first that turning in their Agency I.D. cards would not be enough to put their covert past behind. The fact was, their clandestine relationships remained. Living as ""civilians"" in conflict-ridden Beirut, they fielded assassination proposals, met with Arab sheiks, wily oil tycoons, terrorists, and assorted outlaws - and came perilously close to dying. But even then they couldn't know that their most formidable challenge lay ahead.

Simultaneously a trip deep down the intelligence rabbit hole - one that shows how the ""game"" actually works, including the compromises it asks of those who play by its rules -- and a portrait of two people trying to regain a normal life, The Company We Keep is a masterly depiction of the real world of shadows.

By: Robert Baer, Dayna Baer
Imprint: Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc)
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 134mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 255g
ISBN: 9780307588159
ISBN 10: 0307588157
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 15 March 2012
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

ROBERT BAER is the author of three New York Times bestsellers involving the CIA- See No Evil (which was the basis for the acclaimed film ""Syriana""), Sleeping with the Devil, and The Devil We Know. He has become one of the most authoritative voices on American intelligence and frequently appears as a media commentator. DAYNA BEAR, before leaving the agency to settle down with Bob, was herself an accomplished CIA operative.

Reviews for The Company We Keep: A Husband-and-Wife True-Life Spy Story

[A] bloody, suspenseful story of love and deceit. -- Mens Journal The Company We Keep is a breezy, often fascinating account of this CIA romance, with tradecraft details and war stories thrown in to make it catnip for any fan of espionage fiction...That the Baers coaxed a happy ending out of all this is not the least remarkable part of their appealing story, and hats offto them. -- The Washington Post Engrossing...filled with juicy, personal on-the-job details...[an] exhilarating tale of geopolitical love and peril... -- More The Company We Keep is the best true-life spy story I've ever read...You'll find yourself rooting for these two vagabond spies, and you won't want their exciting and moving story to end. --David Ignatius, New York Times bestselling author of Body of Lies Funny, frightening, ironic, and deeply moving, this is an utterly engrossing thrill ride through the hall of mirrors that is modern espionage...A wonderful book. --Richard North Patterson, New York Times bestselling author of Degree of Guilt and In the Name of Honor Provides a spot-on and compelling portrait of real life inside the CIA; the periods of boredom and frustration loudly punctuated by fast-moving and sometimes frightening, sometimes amusing intelligence operations. Bob and Dayna Baer are the real deal and they beautifully capture the murky world they lived and worked in for years. --Valerie Plame Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Game Propulsive momentum...the authors give a good sense of the improvisational nature of the CIA...Both Baers write affectingly of their experiences. -- Kirkus Reviews A revelation...[shows] how spies operate in the field, the personal costs they pay for the exceptional lives they live, and the way fate can deliver up redemption...I loved this book. --Barry Eisler, New York Times bestselling author of Rain Fall and Fault Line An emotionally candid memoi