A very honest look into Tracy's experience as a spy for the CIA during the years around the 9/11 attack. Her training and service in both the CIA and FBI was an interesting read. This would be a great book for women that are interested in this type of government service.

The author, Tracy Walder, was recruited right out of college by the CIA as an operative. The first two-thirds of the book is concerned with her life within that agency. I found it interesting but not very engrossing. Many parts were heavily edited by the CIA, and when I say edited I mean sentences after sentences were redacted. This made for a rough read. The last third of the book covers Tracy quitting the CIA and joining the FBI. I found this much more interesting. I think the book struggles to find a story to tell. Tracy stints in both agencies was so brief I'm not sure there was much story to tell.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with this advance copy to read and review.

Tracy tells the wonderful and scary story of her journey from USC into the CIA and then the FBI. She was there on 9/11, and played a role in actually finding some potential terrorists - foiling a number of horrific plots. Her transition into the FBI was more frought with sexism and she honestly describes how difficult it was for a blonde Jewish girl to be taken seriously at the FBI, even with her established track record in the CIA - which many of her instructors scoffed at. But this book could empower young women to consider careers in the important national institutions.

While an interesting topic and generally well-written, it’s very rah-rah American and is oriented towards those with little understanding of the military or intelligence. Overall not bad but not super engaging.

A story about overcoming professional and personal obstacles. You learn a lot about the way the CIA and the Intelligence sector is run.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and give my honest review about this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Sara Beth Haring for approved access to an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Tracy Walder takes readers into the heart of her experience with both the CIA and FBI in the post-911 world. Overcoming obstacles in her childhood, Tracy emerges as a fiery spirited woman who cares deeply about people and her country. Often labeled as a "Malibu Barbie," at home and abroad, Tracy dealt daily with sexism on the job. I am still thinking of that instructor at Quantico. What a villain! Admittedly, I would like to use stronger language, but my mother and my boss follow my reviews.


But this isn't a "tell-all", names are changed(except for the political people in Washington that were in government at the time)and details from certain missions are marked with----------- for pages. But since the note at the beginning warned me of this, I never felt irritated. Instead, I found Tracy to be a fascinating, honest, hardworking woman who I would really want to ha e as a friend. I also REALLY appreciated the focus on her career stories. You won't find details about hook-ups and her trying to keep herself "girly" by wearing pink. I wish Tracy all the best in her new career as an educator. Those young women are lucky to have you in their lives!


Goodreads review published 16/01/20
Expected publication date 25/02/20

The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder is classified as a memoir, detailing the harrowing career of a former CIA operative-turned-FBI agent in a post-9/11 world. Walder brings readers to the core of her missions, describing one woman's objective to take down the world's most notorious terrorists. Though this fits into the autobiography category, it reads very much like a thriller, with riveting details, complex characters, and intense writing, making for one unputdownable read.

Walder recounts untold sexism and her desire to remain "female" in a career overly dominated by men. What I appreciated most was that this is not a tell-all story. Key elements have been changed to protect both people Walder worked with and citizens of the United States from retaliation. Having gone through the required procedures to have this memoir approved for publication, Walder removed certain aspects from this book, replacing with them with the tilde symbol. Although we are missing parts of Walder's story she wanted to tell, it still reads as one fluid text, providing enough detail to keep the reader engaged and interested.

In the end, I admire Walder's honesty and candor. I imagine it must have been difficult to be so honest and vulnerable in her pursuit to pen her story. I absolutely recommend this one even to those who aren't fans of nonfiction. Trust me, this one very much reads like today's bestselling thrillers becoming Hollywood hits!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest, unbiased review.

I have been so excited for this book and eagerly waiting for its release. I love spy books and what's better than a real life account? I appreciated the forward where Tracy Walder explained the process she went through to have her book approved and the need to redact certain information- I just didn't realize how distracting that would be when I started reading the book. At times there are full pages of redacted lines and I found myself getting distracted trying to figure out what it was she wanted to say.

I felt the book was full of a lot of details we don't need- she breaks down silly instances like what she ate or what she wore (peep toed shoes) and although I usually love details to help me visualize the setting, it was just distracting and felt like filler.

Overall, it was interesting but not the thrilling tale I had hoped for. I think she did an ok job writing and clearly she has a whole career outside of being an author, but so many parts fell flat. I give this 3.5 stars.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy.

Memoirs are tricky, and they are a genre a rarely enjoy, but I love spy thrillers, so I had high hopes when I received an email from St. Martin's offering approval for this book. Tracy Walder begins with a note about the fact that she had to have CIA approval to write her book and the CIA reviewed her book before it was allowed to be published. Despite careful writing to avoid classified subjects, the CIA did find sections that needed to be deleted. Rather than rewrite the story to create a more cohesive narrative, Walder elected to leave the blacked out sections. This causes my main gripe with this book, and the primary reason I've given it 3 stars. The redacted sections disrupt the flow of the story, and especially early on, seem like a plot device, a ploy to manufacture interest in the story she is allowed to tell. It feels like lazy storytelling, especially where the overall writing style seems simplistic, with a lot of telling instead of showing. I would have appreciated more depth to the narrative, as the majority of the book felt shallow, superficial. I don't know how much of that is Walder's style versus the style of Jessica Anya Blau, and how much was missing story that Walder is not allowed to tell.

Technical issues aside, there is a lot to enjoy here. I appreciated Walder's insight into the operations of the CIA and FBI. It's clear that she loved her job at the CIA and still has a strong sense of loyalty to that organization. I was horrified by her experiences at Quantico, and am thrilled to see that she has moved into another job that she loves, where she can continue to do good and make a difference.

I believe this must have been quite cathartic for the author to share her experiences in this book. She describes herself from being different from childhood in into adulthood and coming into her own self actualization despite the abuse of co workers. Co workers who were most likely jealous of her reserve and determination to succeed. I can relate on some points as it always seems when I came up with an idea,it was often ignored until the person without the southern voice in the room said the same thing and it suddenly becomes the next best thing to sliced bread!
Her time with the CIA is interesting. My now deceased Naval weapons specialist cousin would have disagreed with her on the WMD though, he was on a submarine and always told us they were there and were moved to Syria, which interestingly she never mentions or calls a mid east country she was in by name. It also struck me odd that they didn't give her contact lenses and color her blond hair when visiting The Middle East to further disguise her.
The redactions were a distraction except to show what was redacted by the CIA. They could have been easily reworded so there were not great gaps in a particular story. Some portions could have been deleted entirely without effect on the story. Hopefully all the new TV shows featuring female FBI agents , as well as this book will change the way they treat women in the field. Her posit now poses her in a unique position to foster self confidence in young ladies.
Overall, an interesting read.
I received this book as a complimentary copy for an unbiased review.The opinions expressed are my own. Thanks to the author,publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book, reading in 1 day. Ms. Walder provides very interesting information on the working of the CIA and intelligence community. She also provides information about the role of women in the intelligence community and what it was like to be a blond woman in a Moslem culture. Her information on training at the Farm was very entertaining as well.
She is very blunt about information that led us into the 2nd Iraqi War, the perceived and actual role of the CIA in our involvement in this struggle.
The only negative I had about the book, has to do with the numerous redacted parts of the book. I am surprised that events taking place in the early 2000's would still need to be redacted.
I would recommend this book to anybody interested in history, or interested in the intelligence community! Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book!

Review of digital galley

Tracy Schandler’s memoir recounts her time working for the CIA, most notably in counterterrorism in the aftermath the September 11th terrorist attack at the World Trade Center. As her story unfolds, she comes to recognize her desire to fight terrorism within the United States and, not wanting to become an analyst, decides to apply to the FBI. After a required training session made more difficult by misogynist training agents, Tracy finds herself assigned to counterintelligence. But her tenure with the FBI was fraught with both marginalization and discrimination and, after fifteen months, she left to begin a teaching career in Dallas with the intent of teaching young women to be strong, to use their skills and intelligence to help shape and influence, to work for the greater good of every person.

It is quite disheartening to read how Tracy overcame bullying in school and went on to achieve her dream only to face the same sort of intolerable behavior from the adults with whom she worked. Unexpected revelations such as this make the narrative both intriguing and heart-rending. Told in a straightforward, easy-to-read manner, Tracy’s unputdownable story refuses to be set aside until readers have turned the final page.

This eye-opening glimpse into the daily work of the agents of the CIA and the FBI is both fascinating and frightening. The tenacity and dedication of this compassionate woman is truly inspiring. Thank you, Tracy, for your dedication to that work.

The redacted elements in the unfolding story speak to the authenticity of this narrative, reminding readers that there are things that must remain secret, kept only in the minds and hearts of those who work to keep us safe and free.

I received a free copy of this digital eBook from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley
#TheUnexpectedSpy #NetGalley

A very interesting and enjoyable book, full of twists and turns based on the story of a remarkable young lady that overcame a lot of personal and professional obstacles to have a career in the CIA and the FBI. There were some parts that, frankly, shocked me: the misogyny of the FBI and the persistence of the USA to invade Iraq. What I most enjoyed were the glimpses in her life as a real life spy in the CIA! I especially admire her tenacity and willingness to use her hard earned experience to empower young women to follow their dreams!

This is a book you won't beable to put down. It tells the true story of the author a sorority girl who got recruited to work for the CIA and later worked for the FBI. She goes to dangerous territories in the fight to stop terrorism. This will have you up late reading it. There are parts that are redacted the author explains why she kept them there in the beginning of the book. Overall this was a fascinating book. I highly recommend it.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

This was a fascinating, sometimes frightening book but it was consistantly eye-opening. I do not understand how cruelty and narrow-mindedness can exist in our day, but I am glad that there are people working to shut it down.
The author has had an interesting life and it was good to see a driven woman in a position to do all she could to keep the world a little safer. The many redacted sections were a little distracting, but I understood the necessity for them.
This line "...trying to hold the terrorists in Afghanistan was like trying to hold water in a colander. Yeah, there are places where the water can't get out, but there are so many holes that it's going to get out anyway." really made me stop and think. Terrorists outnumbered the good guys in that instance, but terror is everywhere we look these days. I think Tracy and her colleages were fighting a losing battle, but I appreciate their dedication.

Overall, a gripping, highly readable and engaging book. I hope it does well when it comes out.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

The Unexpected Spy is the story of how Tracy Walder went from sorority girl to a CIA officer who would eventually travel to some of the most dangerous parts of the world under aliases in order to put a stop to terrorism.

Before I write about my thoughts on the book itself, I want to point out that aspects of Walder’s story have been redacted by the CIA (for obvious reasons) and in her foreword, Walder made it clear that she decided to keep in the redacted sections but just black them out rather than rewriting sections. This may bother some people, but I actually found it quite interesting to read what was around the redacted parts and to fill in some of the blanks with the information given. I didn’t have a problem with it, but it’s something to keep in mind. She’s also changed the names of people to protect identities and so forth.

Now, as a school teacher from Australia, there’s not a lot I have in common with a Californian sorority-girl-turned-CIA-officer-turned-FBI-agent. While I’m familiar with some of the historical events that Walder was involved in, and some of the White House names, the rest is pretty far removed from my life, so it was a reading experience that gave me a bit more of an insight into the workings of the CIA and FBI that aren’t purely based off of television and/or movies.

The writing is very easy to follow and Walder has a way of weaving her story together in way that offers insight into both her work and the political climate at the time. But the focus is definitely her work, in which she surveilled al-Qaeda operatives using drones and tracked terrorists involved in the production of Weapons of Mass Destruction. There’s a lot on the process of being vetted by the CIA and the training that she underwent, on the people she worked with and eventually her transition to the FBI which was a whole different ball game, where Walder pointed out the expectations of women were completely different to those of the CIA.

I liked that Walder didn’t shy away from the difficulties she faced as a woman in either agency – in the CIA if she was to debrief terrorists, chances were that they wouldn’t talk to her because she was a woman, and in the FBI she was penalised for being a woman, accused of lying about being a CIA officer because of how she looked and overlooked for positions despite her qualifications. More than that, I liked that she stuck to her beliefs that woman can do anything they set their mind to and used her time after leaving the FBI to help young women do just that.

This was a really interesting read about a strong, independent woman who wanted to make the world a better place and eventually found herself in a position to do that. I wish the book every success when it’s released in late February

I *love* a peek at a secret world, and Walder offers fascinating glimpses of her life as a CIA and an FBI agent, including training details, political machinations, significant and rankling discrimination, and her own glowing pride in doing her job well and protecting others from danger—even when anyone without security clearance remained necessarily ignorant of the invaluable nature of the work and the imminent risks avoided. Her evolution into her present-day self and current profession was satisfying to witness as well.

Printing the redactions as strikethrough text of the same length as what was omitted jarred me at first, and I wondered about this approach, but as the book went on, this method made sense and worked for me.

I would’ve liked this to be twice as long with even more more more detail!

St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley provided me with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I tend to only read autobiographies featuring women in “nonconventional” hobbies or careers ("Jet Girl", "Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube", "What Happened"), as their struggles and successes are either personally inspiring or indicative that, as a society, we still have a ways to go regarding equality. The Unexpected Spy was no different. For someone who, to be honest, doesn’t have a great deal of interest in 9/11 and its aftermath (I’m more concerned with the rise of domestic terrorists - lone shooters and incel attacks), this book was still enthralling and fascinating.

The writing is easy to follow, engaging, and doesn’t get bogged down on details. We are given enough childhood backstory on Tracy that we understand her. She seems like a driven, focused woman who is also very kind and compassionate. A normal person who happened to land a job that suited her strengths.

As a Canadian myself, the “America, f*ck yeah!” statements peppered throughout were a little eye-rolling, but the (sometimes) hyperbolic patriotism was balanced with her critical take on the actions of her government and an open-minded approach to other countries. She clearly was not blinded by her devotion to her country, which was nice to see. I enjoyed that she briefly mentions how her career impacted her social life, but that wasn’t a focus of the story. This is a book about a woman doing her job, not balancing her career with her home life.

Yet, there are still some very poignant sections outlining the sexism she encountered in her role not only as a CIA agent but in the FBI. These moments were less frustrating when she was in the CIA and downright maddening when she discusses the FBI. Was I surprised this happened to her? No. Which is why I found those sections so important. Sexism and misogyny are still problems we need to deal with as a society, and I can only hope stories like these shed light on what needs to change.

In truth, this was likely not a book I would have picked up if the publisher had not offered me an early read, but I’m glad they did!

I stayed up late the first night reading this, until I just couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer. I might have read it right through if I hadn’t been so tired from just inhaling another book before this one. A really good read about a young lady spy for the CIA who goes after bad guy terrorists after 9/11. She later changes jobs to work for the FBI. I found it a good book and hope it might give some young women different goals for the future about making a difference. I found this to be another book I got right through, as I enjoyed it so much and recommend if you like this type of subject. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, authors Tracy Walder & Jessica Anya Blau, and the publisher.

The Unexpected Spy is an enthralling read. Walder grew up in SoCal and was recruited by the CIA while still in college. She also worked for the FBI and currently teaches in Texas. Being in the history profession myself, I related to her using her previous experiences to instruct her students on public policy and world history. Slander has definitely led an exciting life as both a foreign and domestic agent.