As is all-too-often the case with books about the activities of covert agencies, the author finds himself between a rock and a hard place and the book suffers. Here there appears to be a CIA operation but even declassified documents have few details. This leaves the author with either allegations, if he isn't very ethical, or hearsay evidence if he is, as this author is, ethical.

Unhappily when the events are 50 years ago and very convoluted it makes for a confusing and rather random book, that is far too full of the author's own reactions and activities.

So there was definitely a breakdown for me between the synopsis and the actuality of what this book was. It turned out to be more entertaining but less informative than I had hoped.
It starts with the intrepid four and then others to follow, as they desert the Vietnam war and exile to Sweden, a country with no extradition to the US at the time for this action. We are introduced to an organization called ADC (American Deserters Committee) an extreme left group lead by Michael Vale, a suspected CIA mole.
The evolution of this group was crazy as disinformation, paranoia, and conspiracy theories run rampant. I feel this is a fitting real life spy story for the uncertain times we are living through.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc available through netgalley.

Interesting subject that I was unfamiliar with until I read this book. Great research, but I did not engage with this book as much as I thought I would. I would still recommend reading this book, especially if the subject resonates with you.