True adventure mixed with motherhood and world peace building. A timely and page-turning memoir with stellar behind-the-scenes spycraft. Will appeal to fans of Cheryl Strayed and fans of gutsy women-powered memoirs. Full review is on BookBrowse.

I’ve been a fan of espionage fiction FOREVER, but admit I haven’t read much espionage nonfiction—in fact, I sort of thought all the “good stuff” would never be approved for publication. So I was a bit ambivalent about Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox (which I received thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review).

The daughter of an English actress and an economist from the U.S., Amaryllis grew up traveling the world as her family lived in many different countries throughout her childhood due to her father’s work. During her last two years of high school, she lived in Washington, D.C., graduating from National Cathedral. While there, she discovered Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience and loved it, going so far as to “Paint quotes from its pages on my bedroom wall. The idea that our highest duty is not to follow the law but to do whatever we know to be right fills me with calm and hope and awe.” This philosophy was central to her approach to her CIA career (and possibly why she didn’t become a lifer).

When she was 17, she went to a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Burma, working in health clinics and raising funds for the refugees. She was also a budding journalist, scoring a rare interview with Aung San Suu Kyi for the BBC when she was just 18.

Back at school, she studied international law at Oxford, then went to Georgetown for a Master’s in International Security. A project creating an algorithm for predicting terrorism was shared with the CIA, and she was recruited and joined at the age of 22.

The book has lots of stories about her rigorous training, which I found fascinating. After she got through that year, she spent several years as a clandestine officer, working in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, marrying twice and having a child along the way.

Working in the field, she was “pretending to be an arms dealer pretending to be an art dealer,” and is clear that “it’s our cover and not our weapon that keeps us form being killed.” After years of living a lie, she thinks that possibly “…living a lie hurts only so long as I keep reminding myself it’s a lie. Maybe if I just act like its real…maybe someday the longing for life without cover will disappear and my shell will just become my skin.”

IMHO, the book was well written, and I found it honest and clear about her work and her personal life. Ms. Fox was all in, for years. When she got to a certain point, she just couldn’t do it anymore and she got out, later giving a somewhat notorious interview with Al Jezeera in which she spoke of life undercover, and the most valuable lesson she learned: the importance of truly listening.

I could have happily read twice as many pages, with lots more stories about her experiences. Five stars.

Fox is recruited by the CIA as a graduate student. Her early encounters in Burma (now Myanmar) at the age of 18 include smuggling out a clandestine interview. Her personal life often suffers as a result of her work.

Recommended for public libraries, academic libraries, and book clubs.

Would recommend this to anyone interested in working for the CIA. It is a quick read, and very well written. Ms. Fox has had a remarkable job along with the ability to utilize her unique gifts and it was a pleasure to read her story.

This book was amazing, or I should say Amaryllis Fox's life was amazing! (at least the first part.) After reading the book I know she will go on and do more great things for the world.

The book was very readable, and felt like a thriller at times. And with thrillers, there is a lack of character development as it slows down the story. Here I wanted it to slow down and provide us more. I wanted more of her personal relationships, particularly with the husbands, and why with the second one they chose to have a child when their lives are in constant danger. I wanted to know more about her relationship with her mother, as Fox kept coming back to words her mother said or wrote to her, and how that shaped Fox's life. This book was too short. I don't say that often, but this book did need to have more.

Despite the places that needed more, I was blown away by this book. It opens your eyes to the work that is being done to make everyone safer in the world, not just American's but every human being.

Very readable biography of a young woman’s journey after 9-11 and how the death of her mentor Daniel Pearl led her to be recruited by the CIA, ultimately coming to realize that “peacemaking requires listening and vulnerability is a component of strength.”

I was looking for a good memoir after reading several others this year. This one did not disappoint. It crosses into how the author was undercover and how that affected her life. It was a quick, but quality read. I will be looking for more stuff from this author in the future!

I first became aware of Amaryllis Fox after watching the tv show American Ripper a few summers ago. She seemed like such a fascinating person, so when I learned she was coming out with a memoir about her time in the CIA I knew I had to read it. It did not disappoint!

Fox takes us through her rather unconventional childhood to her college years, where she develops an algorithm to predict the likelihood of a terrorist attack in any given location. Naturally this piques the interest of the CIA, who pursue her after she graduates. She joins and quickly shoots to the top, eventually becoming an undercover spy overseas.

Through it all, I was struck again and again by this woman's sheer brilliance, as well as her commitment to keeping her fellow citizens safe. The insight she gave into the incredibly strenuous training she underwent, both physical and psychological, was shocking to say the least. I have a renewed sense of gratitude for these men and women who put their personal lives on hold in order to serve their country behind the scenes and keep the rest of us safe. The number of credible nuclear threats we faced after 9/11 were more numerous than I'd ever imagined. We can sleep soundly at night because people like Fox are working to keep the threats at bay.

The quickest way to make me put a book aside is when the author spouts their personal political beliefs. Given the subject matter, I expected that Fox would indulge in this a bit. However, I was pleasantly surprised that although Fox advocates for peace and understanding, she refrains from lecturing her readers, nor does she criticize particular administrations, parties, or individuals. She shows great empathy and understanding for those who think differently from her, particularly her ex-husband, and acknowledges that their life experiences have contributed to their way of thinking. In these unfortunate times of great political resentment and divide, I was so very appreciative of this, and I wish that more authors would follow in her example.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Fast-paced and well-written, it's a great example of nonfiction that feels like fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

It isn't like the movies, Amaryllis Fox says in the early chapters of her memoir. There aren't high speed chases through city streets, jumping through civilians as the undercover agent evades their surveillance tail. She then proceeds to tell a story that is so compelling, I cannot wait for it to be a movie.

Recruited out of Georgetown, Fox becomes an agent for the CIA, working under non-official cover as an arms dealer posing as an art dealer. This story about the decade she spent doing counterterrorism work is fascinating, as are all the places you see her grasp for her own identity -- who is she, underneath all the masks she's wearing? It's an exhilarating book, which never loses its humanity.