American Spy

Mer underholdende enn god. Tidshistorisk interessant med Thomas Sankara og Burkina Faso som småfrekt tema. Som thriller uforløst og lite intens, som fortelling fascinerende og samtidig veldig konstruert. Som mange amerikanske bestselgere litt skrivekursaktig i konstruksjonen. Anbefalt av Obamas bokklubb, akkurat det er mest en kuriositet.

I enjoyed that the book spent a lot of time in Burkina Faso, but otherwise I struggled to understand how or why the main character could be a spy (or why she needed to be, like her older sister), notwithstanding her attempt to answer this question, in the closing pages of the book, in response to a character who asks. I am also prejudiced against second-person narrations and epistolary novels, and this is both.

A little slow through the first half, but picks up pace in later sections. Great story and perspective. Fun to see little flashes of NYC from the 70s and 80s. Also interesting as a historical fiction involving the CIA and America's Cold War and "counter insurgency" tactics (trying to squash any developments of big bad communism - I enjoyed reading [b:The Imagineers of War|30780220|The Imagineers of War The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World|Sharon Weinberger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476317653l/30780220.SX50.jpg|51368531] alongside this book).