Through the book, Ames remains faithful to his wife and six children throughout their travels and separations but most especially faithful to his career as an influential operative in the Middle East. Kai emphasizes Ames’ understanding and sympathy of the struggles of the cultures he encounters, most especially Palestinians, in tandem with his responsibilities to CIA, which creates an interesting dynamic as Bird weaves the developments of Ames sources into a painting of friendships rather than those short of actual recruitments for CIA. It is important to note recruitment of agents by case officers during his tenure was a fine art with a small percentage of success. Ames, fluent in language, is assigned to many locations and quickly understands their regional significance while working hard to collect intelligence through understanding his environments by pounding pavement, reading, and immersing himself into the most intimidating social scenes of his assignments. The occasional reminder is thrown in that Robert Ames continued to be assigned alongside Marines and had meals with Marines in the chow hall between opting for finer dining with his sources in the social settings of his culturally diverse assigned locations. At one point, South Yemen is noted as the worst for wear of his travels with a preference towards his assignments in Iran and Lebanon. Once the reader is well aquainted with Robert Ames career and personality they will then be introduced to an exceptionally detailed story about Ali Hassan Salameh and the history of Black September, Force 17, and the PLO. The political backdrop with narratives on leaders and cohorts of the PLO and CIA sets the stage for how Ames and Salameh deliver their responsibilities to their superiors while struggling to maintain a dissipating covert channel of communication and diplomacy. The deterioration of the relationship with Salameh evolves when the factions of the Iranian Revolution come to the forefront following the fractures of Lebanon and solidification of Jordan as an ally to the West. The adage of “live by the sword – die by the sword” takes a very dramatic presence as the great game of spying eventually has Mossad and terrorism catch up to brutally terminate Salameh and Ames amongst the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment Marines in Beirut. [AMAZONPRODUCTS asin="0307889750"]]]>