4 comments about Il Dottore: The Double Life of a Mafia Doctor.

1. Over the past 10 years, i have referred hundred of patients to "Elliot". He is an excellent cardiac surgeon and 5 years ago performed a five vessel bypass on me. And I am not even Italian. On a holiday no less 3 months after 911.
   Had I had my coronary arteries "cauterized " mentioned twice on page 230, I would not be in good shape. Catheterized is what is meant. Also, Simon Dack at Mt Sinai was not a surgeon. He was a cardiologist and actually the founder of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology"
   
   Reading the book is a bit like looking into a bowl of spaghetti in which each strand has a name. A tangleled web of Italian names intermingled and many slurped away eventually by the fork and spoon of Rudy. Would have liked more on Il Dottore and less on Mafia. I am surprised the book is not yet a movie.



2. Although I strongly disagree with Mr. Felber's characterization of the American Mafia, I must admit this was an interesting story. It is also an intriguing look at man's constant struggle with good and evil, through the lens of a supposed true story. If everyone where completely honest with themselves, we would have to admit to similar struggles in our lives, although certainly not at the level Dr. Litner encountered/embraced.
   
   The bottom line is that the American Mafia is no different from the cowardly criminal street gangs popular in South Central LA or other parts of the country. So if you can get past Mr. Felber's unabashed apologetics on behalf of these thugs (I did, despite my low opinion of them), you will enjoy an overall good read.



3. Il Dottore: The Double Life Of A Mafia Doctor by author and biographyer Ron Felber is the startlingly true story of a physician at Mount Sinai Hospital who provided health care services for Mafia kingpins including John Gotti and Joseph Bonanno. By day, he pursued a flourishing career as a respected cardiac surgeon; by night, he was a gambling and sex addict, drawn ever deeper into the high-stakes world of organized crime. His double life came to a head-on conflict in the mid 1980's when the government's star witness, Ralph Scopo, lay on the operating table. Directed by John Gotti to "make sure that only one of you comes out of the operating room breathing" on one hand, yet threatened with ruin by mayor Giuliani on the other, he had to make the choice of a lifetime between loyalty to La Cosa Nostra and adherence to the Hippocratic Oath. An exciting and suspenseful true story, more enthralling than fiction.



4. I've read a lot about the mafia, but reading Il Dottore by Ron Felber is like eating popcorn at a movie theater, you just can't stop. Elliot Litner's (Il Dottore) life is a roller coaster ride through a time when giants walked the streets of NYC: John Gotti, Carlo Gambino, Joe bonanno, Rudy Giuliani. The gang's all here, and they've never looked better.

No comments about Handstands in the Dark: A True Story of Growing Up and Survival.

5 comments about Pretty Boy: The Life & Times Of Charles Arthur Floyd.

1. 
   His absolute, hands-down best!!!!!! Michael Wallis tells the story of Pretty Boy Floyd while keeping you intimately interested. My favorite book of all time!!!



2. This book provides a portrait of the life of Choc Floyd mainly from the perspective of his family and friends, and fair enough as their views and memories have a right to be published too. It is too broad a brush and too simple to paint a man as completely without merit or morals and this book restores some balance and looks at his life, the decisions he made; his relationships with family and friends and of course his criminal activities.
   
   That said; he could kill ruthlessly when required and made his a lot of his living by robbing banks and terrorising innocent people this book does not deny he did many wrong things but he was wrongly blamed for some crimes he probably had nothing to do with. Two claims in this book l wish to comment on.
   
   The books asserts he has nothing to do with the Kansas City Union massacre in 1933, where as other books and some magazines make the claim he was involved in it. If he was involved then it was totally out of sync with his previous criminal activities, he may have been there but it does not seem right. The second point is by a East Liverpool policeman, l think Chester Smith, who was present with the Feds when Floyd was shot and captured, (and also claims to have fired two shots that wounded Floyd and bought him down) claimed publicly many years later, after Purvis and Hoover has passed away that Melvin Purvis, ordered one of his federal agents to execute a wounded Floyd lying on the ground. This is an amazing claim and a shaky one, looking at the character and career of Purvis l find this one unbelievable; that said an interesting book for true crime buffs.



3. This is without question the best biography I have come across in many years. I strongly suggest anyone who has even an inkling of interest in modern American history make it a point to get this book and read it. They will not be disapponited.



4. The first major biography of Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd is a sweeping "life and times" effort, a well-researched opus that concentrates as much on early 1900's-Depression era America as on a straight biography of Floyd. It's too bad because Floyd himself deserved a more detailed treatment, as well as a more objective one. Much of the information on Floyd came from family and friends and, while this is interesting and informative, one gets the distinct impression that Wallis got too close to his subject, blinded perhaps by the folkloric image of Floyd as a Southwestern Depression Robin Hood. This is somewhat understandable. Floyd was falsely accused in his own day of many atrocious crimes, such as the "Young brothers' massacre," but the fact remains that he was a ruthless killer as well as a bank robber and that a preponderance of evidence exists suggesting Floyd's guilt in the Kansas City Union Station massacre. Wallis ignores this evidence, accessible in thousands of pages of FBI files he claims to have read, and instead builds straws for Floyd's innocence in this crime. Such as relying on the testimony of "Blackie" Audett, a minor bank burglar of the period and notorious liar, who claimed to have witnessed the massacre but whose story is shot full of holes. Audett was in prison at the time of the shooting and one of the men he named as an "actual" killer had been murdered over two years earlier. This doesn't stop Wallis in his determination to vindicate his Robin Hood idol. In all, it's a nice professional work--a thick book with some nice photos, a bibliography and an index. It could have been much better, as evidenced by the more recent The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd by Jeffery King.



5. I became interested in "Pretty Boy Floyd" when I found out his mother was distantly related to my family and I was researching my family. He was raised 25 miles from where I live until his family moved to Oklahoma. There was mention of the town in the book and some of the mischief he got in to. The house they lived in still stands. I was able to use some of the information from the book to go in my family tree. The book was very well written and seemed to be accurate in the account given of his life. I felt like I had known him from the reading of this book and feel he was unjustly killed at the end. His mother was treated unfairly about the way the funeral took care of his body. The pictures in the book of his family in the younger days were very good pictures. I didn't especially care for the ones at the funeral home where he was more or less put on display. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the history and hardships that occurred during the early part of the century.I am sure I will read this book again. It was hard to put down when I read it the first time.

4 comments about Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula.

1. Although the book has several chapters about vampirism and Bram Stoker's Dracula, the remaining chapters about Vlad Tepes are very detailed and a good read. Vlad surely was one of the most cruel tyrants ever and his atrocities are described with much detail. Contemporaries wrote about the "untold abuses, sad murders and mutilations by the cruel tyrant Dracula" and the author discusses the sources and their reliability by their level of interest in blackening Vlad. According to Trow, many of Vlad Dracula's acts can be interpreted as efforts to enforce his own moral code upon his country and to strengthen and modernise the central government at the expense of the nobility, because they had repeatedly undermined the power of the Wallachia's rulers (and buried alive his elder brother).
   An interesting section describes the `usual' way of impalement and the most likely way used by Vlad in the case of mass impalements or when a mother was impaled together with her baby.



2. I am no expert on Dracula but my historical sensibilities have been offended by several serious errors in the text. Here are just two examples: on pages 9-10 Mr. Trow writes:

   "...Oliver Cromwell, whose head ... may or may not have been separated from his body..."

   It is a well-known fact that Cromwell's head definitely had been separated from his body, and found its lonely grave only in 1960.

   On page 123 we find the following fragment about Jan Zizka:

   "...he had fought for the Teutonic Order against the Poles...
   Losing an eye at Tannenberg in 1410 fighting for Wenceslas..."

   These two incomplete sentences contain four mistakes. First, Zizka fought FOR the Poles AGAINST the Teutonic Order. Second, he did so at the battle of Tannenberg in 1410, therefore he couldn't fight there for Wenceslas. Third, the unnamed battle from the first sentence and the battle of Tannenberg/Grunwald are one and the same event. Fourth, Zizka lost an eye in his adolescence.

   In short, this book could really benefit from knowledgeable editing.




3. Expertly presented by crime writer and historian M. J. Trow, Vlad The Impaler: In Search Of The Real Dracula is an impressively researched, meticulously detailed, and superbly written study of the life of the ruthless historical figure whose memory and legend became the inspiration for the enduring legend of a blood-drinking, undead fiend. Yet there was a great deal more to this controversial prince (as vicious as he was), than what his legends say - he was, in historical fact, "more sinned against than sinning". Vlad had to contend with avenging the murders of his family, defending his nation-state from brutal enemies who took every pain to destroy his reputation, and who eventually became a defeated martyr, captured by the Hungarian King Corvinus. Vlad The Impaler is very highly recommended reading and a welcome addition to community library biography collections.



4. I was very disappointed in this book. While the history sections are reasonably solid, the author falls into the usual traps whenever he tries to make links between the historical Vlad and the Dracula of Bram Stoker's novel. Numerous times he states speculation as if it were fact. Worse, he makes statements that any reader of the novel "Dracula" would know are ludicrous: for example, that at the end of the story, Count Dracula has a stake driven through his heart; or that Dracula is unable to function during the day. To be fair to the author, I plan to write him directly and elaborate on all the flaws I found in the book. Maybe in a second edition (if there is one) they can be corrected. In the meantime, if you are looking for a reliable book on Vlad without all the nonsense about his being the inspiration for Stoker's novel, stick with "Vlad III Dracula" by Kurt Treptow.

   Dr. Elizabeth Miller
   www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller [Dracula's homepage]

5 comments about The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Damaging FBI Agent in U.S. History.

1. "The Spy Next Door" is an astonishing easy reading story about a common man with an uncommon ability to elude. Robert Hanssen's 25 year job at the FBI gave him access to carefully guarded national security secrets. Ann Blackman and Elaine Shannon are investigative reporters that give a biography of a man whose life is unbelievable, yet true and amazing.
   
   The "Spy Next Door" page turner includes his life from ostracized child to super spy for the Soviets. The only son of a Chicago Cop, he never received his father's approval, was a high school misfit, who developed deep resentments. On the surface, Bob never made a big deal about anything, but he didn't like surprises and he didn't like being forgotten. He was smart and knew by developing a facade of normalcy - he played the boring man next door. Beneath his shell of normalcy he built his dual lives - "lawful" FBI agent and Soviet Spy; "faithful" husband and playboy; and "loyal Catholic" and aesthetic. He kept an arms length from reality so he could chase an exciting game of cat and mouse. He dropped clues - almost daring people to catch him or pay better attention.
   
   What amazed me is that he could have gotten away with it. Why did he take the risk of reactivating? There was little chance of the FBI catching him as long as he stayed dormant. Hanssen's espionage has little to do with spying and much to do with emotional wants. He is an arrogant man harboring resentments and needed "respect" and friendships from an enemy that laughed at his naive requests for little money and yet giving them key intelligence - causing deaths of our agents - so they would pay attention and he could get retribution - telling everyone "I will show you!"
   
   By blending in, being "common" - no one paid attention to him. The betrayal to this country is enormous.



2. I found this book very informative i was able to read it super fast a must read



3. This book was a good read. It seemed to be more thoroughly researched(although there are still open questions) and was not simply rushed out by two greedy authors capitalizing on recent events.

   I understand that Bob and Bonnie Hansen's position was not represented in this book. I would've liked more concrete evidence rather than author speculation, but that is implausible in this case.

   With the amount of research and time that was invested in this book, I am reasonably satisfied with the result and give this book 4 stars




4. I have to rate this book at 3 stars. Why? At only 230+ pages, I have to wonder if the book wasn't a rush to judgement and was not as thoroughly researched as it could have been. Basically, the book is a good, quick read and gives the reader an overall view of Bob Hanssen and his exploits as a spy. However, there are a few things that make me believe the book could have been better.

   First of all, there was a lengthy dissertation about Opus Dei. Shannon never really adequately explained how the Opus Dei may have contributed to Hanssen's behavior as a spy. Secondly, she mentioned his interest in internet pornography. Well...so how did that affect Hanssen's behavior? She doesn't explain that, so one wonders what was the point of mentioning his interest in pornography in the first place. Third, as another reader mentioned, there are no bibliographies nor an index, nor are there any photos. I have to question Shannon's notes if she doesn't reference them.

   Nevertheless, the book is worth a read. I think the book would have benefitted from a better psychoanalysis of Hanssen. ...




5. I was intrigued by the information in this book.I wanted more detail and a clearer understanding. I remember searching for this book and waiting for it to arrive. I was a little disappointed that it was not better, having seen several interviews with the authors.
   I have found that "Spy" by David Wise is a more detailed and better written book. I believe Robert Hanssen and his family cooperated with Mr Wise.

5 comments about Mob Nemesis: How the FBI Crippled Organized Crime.

1. Satisfactorily written but unless you really need to know the day-to-day activities of the mafia and the FBI this will be a tough read. If you've read one chapter, you've read the entire book: bad guys sell drugs, gamble illegally, kill each other, then, when caught by the good guys, do whatever they can to cut deals to avoid jail time. Kudos for not romanticizing La Cosa Nostra, though. These people are crude, dull-witted, morally challenged, and, perhaps the worse crime of all, boring as heck.



2. The author describes his life in the FBI and how he fought against the mob. The first part of the book is about him trying to become an FBI agent and does not discuss many details about the Mafia. The author comes off very conceded but at the same time describes details of the mob that contradict numerous other books. The biggest example is when he describes Agent Joseph Pistone aka Donnie Brascoe. He describes Pistone as a good friend yet says he infiltrated the Colombo family for 8 years. Any mob enthusiast knows Pistone was involved with the Bonanno Family. It's hard to trust the other facts he lists when getting major facts like Donnie Brasco wrong.



3. Griffin did a great and long overdue job of shedding an honest look into the lives and character of real mobsters. His book was facsinating and gives the reader a glimpse of what went on behind the scenes, both for the mob, and the FBI. I am an avid reader of mob related books, and this book is by far one of the best I've read, I'm sure it's going to make a great movie someday.



4. I guess this book was kinda interesting. It just seemd to drag on and go deep into FBI procedures and not so much into the everyday life of a gangster. Compared to other Mafia books I've read this is by far the worst. But it is still a mafia book, so I found it to be at least somewhat interesting. I would not recommend this book unless you are more interested in how the FBI fought organized crime, and not the everday operations of a mafia family.



5. This book detailed the FBI's fight against the mob and was very informative with regard to the psychological makeup of the so-called "Godfathers". In contrast to the constant portrayal of these characters as "upfront" and "honorable", Griffin shows their true colors in vivid detail. It was a quick, interesting read and a must for Mafia "aficionados". This book would make a great movie someday.

No comments about Familiarity Is the Kingdom of the Lost.

2 comments about Outlaws of the Lakes: Bootlegging & Smuggling from Colonial Times to Prohibition.

1. The Great Lakes have served as a smuggler's freeway since Canada's infancy. In "Outlaws of the Lakes: Bootlegging and Smuggling", Canadian author Ed Butts tackles the subject of the illegal trade in booze and just about everything else banned or excessively taxed by the government. He also highlights its more infamous practitioners, such as Rocco Perri, Canada's Al Capone.
   
   Butts has dicovered or deduced some eye-opening facts. He demonstrates that a French bootlegger was responsible for the founding of Detroit, and points out that smugglers made a valuable contribution to the British-Canadian victory during the War of 1812. Historic triumphs aside, Butts does not whitewash or glorify the degraded character of the smuggler or the vicious reality of his / her daily life. These lake pirates killed each other, turned the legal system into a farce by bribing government officials, and created a legacy of violence and corruption that taints Canada and the United States to this day.



2. Edward Butts book Outlaws of the Lakes is nothing less than brilliant! A must to read! This is an extemely well written account of both Canadian and American smuggler's, bootleggers and corrupt government official's at it's best! Also great detailed accounts on Al Capone and his rivals Dion O'Bannon and the Purple Gang. A must for crime readers and historian buffs! I give this book 5-stars with highest honors.

5 comments about Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer.

1. This is a good text, but I found myself wanting more. Several reviewers have spoken about how the authors did a good job of providing a new Ripper suspect, but I didn't feel they tied up the loose ends. There is mention of murders in Jamaica and Nicaragua late in the book, but no evident that Dr T. was ever in those countries at the time of the murders. There was a brief mention of an American `ripper event' in New York City, but no details surrounding this event. The evidence surrounding the Batty Street Lodger was very interesting, but the authors should have flushed that line of reasoning out further.
   
   However the largest weakness of the text surrounds Mary Kelly. In the second appendix the authors decide that Mary is not a Ripper victim, apparently because Dr. T. might have been in police custody at the time of her murder. This might in fact be accurate, but this sort of material needs to be a chapter within the body of their text. This is a HUGE point within their theory and it's added in at the end. The authors spent significant time talking about Mary Kelly, only to discount the murder at the very end of the book because it didn't agree with their theory. This is a major flaw in their argument.
   
   Additionally, early sections of the book spend a good deal of time talking about the Lincoln Assassination and Dr. T's arrest as a suspect in that affair. Unfortunately, these events are never tied back to the Whitechapel affair. Finally, very little information is provided regarding what happened to Dr. T. after he left London. Perhaps this information is not available, but one of the leading reasons to suspect Dr T. is he left London in 1888 (under suspicion). Additionally, if ripper-like murders happened in other parts of the world, this would be a big indicator that he was the Ripper, but only if you can show he was in those locals at the time of the murders.
   
   Having read many Ripper texts, this one is more entertaining than most; however, it left me feeling the authors could have done more with their suspect. They did not convince me they had found Jack, only that Jack the Ripper and the Batty Street Lodger were probably one and the same person.



2. The Littlechild letter was an exciting find, but I remained unconvinced Tumblety was a viable JTR suspect. Unlike other JTR books though, I feel the authors present their story in an honest and well researched manner and I didn't get the feeling facts were fudged or glossed over altogether.
   
   While Tumblety probably didn't commit the crimes (he didn't fit the description very well and I cannot believe JTR was that organized and competent to amass a small fortune), I wouldn't rule out he murdered others and I would still recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Whitechapel murders.



3. I was impressed with this book.The best Ripper book yet.Gives the facts ,and no newspaper biases. Timewise,it fits Dr.Tumblity.
   Socially,it fits Dr.Tumblity.The O'tumblity's were Irish immigrants ,of the 1830s potatoe famine.He had a poor childhood and few prospects for social acceptance,in the WASP society,of the 19th century.Tumblity was a good medic,during the Civil War.He was even a gate-crasher at the Lincoln White-House.Yet,after the war,he was persona non grata. He had plucked medals off the dead solider's chests and boasted an impressive military service,all Munchhausen quitoxic fabrications. Like a social peacock, trying to impress the local fauna.Yet,it was faux plummage.Tumblity's wife was unfaithful and left him a embittered misogynist.The Tumblity quack sold peppered cure-alls,and performed abortions ,in the backroom,of his foot-to-the-ground office.When Tumblity passed on ,at a St.Louis catholic hospital,on South Euclid ,he donated all the jewlery he had to the unknowing sisters.The rings were from prostitutes and poor women that had no ready-cash for Tumblity's questionable abortion services. No worthy doctor sullied their hands in this dark business of "Angel-making".But,Tumblity did.This Tumblity deemed himself a "respectable gentelman".He had to be frustrated by being restricted to the nether-world of Victorian society.I believe Tumblity met Monty Druitt at a college pub.Tumblity lavished on young artsy college boys,such as Patricia Cornwall's suspect.The chaulked "Juwes" comment ,was atributed to Monty Druitt ,yet probably written by the old fox Tumblity.Tumblity had a falling out with Druitt,dumping his body in the still-water.The corpse was found some weeks later and Tumblity was long gone,having taken a steamer,back to Rochester,New York.Jack is slang for a "puerile boy" and a "ripper" rips things open.The young Tumblity was an saucy erotica porn reader and aware of the street-whores of the lower eastside.The elder Tumblity was an avid theatre goer,watching the performances of the Booth family.(Yet,i do not know if Tumblity having been ejected by the Lincoln beef-eaters,then help hatch the assassination plot with John Wilkes Booth.) Tumblity was also a fan of Gilbert&Sullivan.Tumblity visited his sister(1875) ,from Vallejo,CA and watched the "Mikado" ,in near-by Frisco. Amazing!Did the Zodiac know this?? -- Mr.Lusk was a Mason,yet Tumblity was rejected as a Mason. You do the addition and go figure here.The best evidence provided here is proven and sound. A great book!



4. I enjoyed this book. Admittedly, it has sat on my shelf for three years, waiting until I was in a suitably dark mood to be tempted by it. The authors present a lot of evidence and show very thorough research. The killer they suggest seems entirely plausible, much more so than in the other Ripper book I read and enjoyed (at the end of which, the author's conclusion was that the man had simply stopped killing. Serial killers don't just stop. So that was implausible). Good book.



5. Contrary to what Reviewer #2 has to say with his low rating, having read MANY "Studies" of the Ripper over the years, I find the case brought against "Dr." Tumblety to be by FAR the MOST likely; there is just TOO much coincidence for it NOT to be this man. Of particular interest are a SIMILAR rash of murder/mutilations performed AFTER the Whitechapel murders in another locale where Tumblety was proven to have been in at the same time as THAT series occured. PLUS Tumblety's collection of fetuses, etc. HIGHLY recommended, to me one of the MOST compelling books yet written on the topic, with more than enough proof provided to prove Tumblety's guilt.

5 comments about The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold: The Secret Life of FBI Double Agent Robert Hanssen.

1. Feels to me like this was a rush job to be the first to get something on the market.Thank goodness I took this out from the library and didn't buy it. Even so, it was a waste of time to read. Havill is, above all, lazy - both intellectually and in the amount of research he did, and didn't do. On the two most potentially interesting facets of the story - Hanssen's personality and motivation, and the suspense of being a double agent and the catch - Havill all but takes a powder.
   
   Havill digests a lot of communications between Hanssen and the KGB, which is at first, interesting - if for nothing more than the intersection between the spy craft and the mundane. However, these communications become the beef of the book, with no spine. Additionally, since these messages turn out to be so similar and poorly woven into events, their recitation become tedious.
   
   Havill's attempts at piercing personality and motivation fall pathetically short. One is left with the picture of what appears to be a fairly average guy doing extraordinary things. But virtually no effort is made to explain, let alone even proffer a working motivational theory. We are left with just a load of poorly framed speculations. This is also a spy story with virtually no tension. Hard to believe there was virtually none when a senior FBI official spies over so many years. Havill's account is little more than, 'This FBI guy did some spying for the KGB and then he got caught.' Most writers could convey more tension than Havill describing a morning commute.
   
   Cinching the case for this book being a dud is the extremely poor writing. It's littered with ungrammatical, ungainly and unreadable prose. It's like the guy wrote it driving to work, and his editor took a powder.
   
   If you're interested in reading about this case, I strongly suggest you look for another book, if there is one. (If I recall correctly, there was a great NY Times Magazine piece on Hanssen that came out shortly after he got arrested.)



2. Don't bother reading this book. It is the same thing over and over and over, so that it makes one want to scream. The movie "Breach" is not the true story either. It's Hollywood. Read David Wise's book, the best of the bunch written about spy Robert Hanssen. Hanssen was a brilliant if not troubled non agent who wanted to be the real deal. So instead of getting to be an FBI operative, he went to the dark side and made himself a name giving up our country's secrets that may never be recovered. It is enough to scare you to death and make you ill.



3. Riveting, like a good novel and very hard to put down! Cold Eyes



4. Havill, once again, has written an engrossing book. I will proclaim my own bias by pointing out something, though. On page 173, Havill mentions the Clinton years "begin with the shoot-outs at Ruby Ridge and Waco." Well, actually, no, George the first was president at the time of Ruby Ridge. And Havill's comment about "King William" make me wonder about his agenda when most of the spying going on is during the Reagan-Bush years. In books about policies or personalities you expect that: you know where the author is coming from and you digest the material accordingly. In a book that is SUPPOSED to be about Robert Hanson I find it telling that the only president he mentions in a derogatory manner is Clinton. Makes me wonder if there is other information he left out. . .Still, you can't fault the guy's talent for spinning a phrase. A worthy book.



5. Post 9-11, how many people really know how deeply Robert Hanssen damaged national security? A recent dinner with several academics suggested, not a whole lot, if that sample counts in any way. Havill's book may not satisfy the connoisseurs of this niche of investigative journalism, but the book serves an important function; it exposes the depth of the betrayal and the nature of the agency that he ravaged. That system and the people who oversee it, have much to be ashamed of. The press has magnificently implied that the damage was minimal. The adopted supposition then by a large part of the citizenry was that it was "low level" information that he handed to the Russians. The press did a great job of keeping the public snookered. Havill does his darndest to refute that suggestion with the details of the top secrets that were handed over to the Russians.

   As a psychological case study; Hanssen is the archetype of the Jungian shadow. The religious, dour and convinced patriot by day and the vulgar, ... depraved, traitor at night. Indeed Hanssen betrayed everyone, primarily his overworked and short-changed wife, but also his country, his church and of course, his employer. Why then, did people just fall for his act? They didn't according to the author; there were members of his own extended family, starting with his brother in law, a fellow agent and fellow employees who at least hinted at the deceptive and twisted nature of his allegiance or lack thereof.
   How can we correct such ... neglect of self-policing in our governmental offices? Well, it will not be easy, if the educated voter and the concerned public is somehow "picking up" that the damage was superficial. There are, afterall too many government sponsored daily security news items to sift through and ponder. Havill's work needs to be read and if it is as a form of entertainment; which it can be, all the better!