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Life Undercover
- Coming of Age in the CIA
- Narrated by: Amaryllis Fox
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
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Life Undercover
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Publisher's Summary
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
"Fast and thrilling.... Life Undercover reads as if a John le Carré character landed in Eat Pray Love." (The New York Times)
Amaryllis Fox's riveting memoir tells the story of her 10 years in the most elite clandestine ops unit of the CIA, hunting the world's most dangerous terrorists in 16 countries while marrying and giving birth to a daughter
Amaryllis Fox was in her last year as an undergraduate at Oxford studying theology and international law when her writing mentor, Daniel Pearl, was captured and beheaded. Galvanized by this brutality, Fox applied to a master's program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where she created an algorithm that predicted, with uncanny certainty, the likelihood of a terrorist cell arising in any village around the world.
At 21, she was recruited by the CIA. Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the president. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism center.
At 22, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to "the Farm", where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a Glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity.
At the end of this training, she was deployed as a spy under non-official cover - the most difficult and coveted job in the field as an art dealer specializing in tribal and indigenous art and sent to infiltrate terrorist networks in remote areas of the Middle East and Asia.
Life Undercover is exhilarating, intimate, fiercely intelligent - an impossible-to-pause record of an extraordinary life, and of Amaryllis Fox's astonishing courage and passion.
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What the critics say
"A riveting account of the decade the author spent risking her life in the CIA’s most clandestine unit." (People)
"Gripping...Fox masterfully conveys the exhilaration and loneliness of life undercover, and her memoir reads like a great espionage novel." (Publishers Weekly starred review)
"Extraordinary...[A] remarkable life...Fox engagingly - and transparently - describes her work as an undercover agent for the CIA." (Kirkus Reviews)
What listeners say about Life Undercover
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cattiva
- 2019-12-15
Outstanding
Thank you for writing and providing this book for all to read. Exceptionally well done
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bryan Khan
- 2020-11-25
Great book and storyteller
Amaryllis has a great way to tell her story and keep you engrossed and entertained.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Max Charbonneau
- 2020-06-26
Decent book
Good story but don’t expect to hear anything all that exciting. It’s the kind of book you listen to once and move on. That being said, no regrets so give it a try.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Roberta W
- 2024-10-05
Great
A great behind the scenes look at the CIA, what it takes to become an agent (the vigorous training is fascinating) and what it is like to live as an agent, overseas, under the eyes of a foreign government. I appreciated the female perspective. Not the first book of this sort I’ve read, but definitely the best.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PapaStove
- 2019-10-18
thank you for your service
one of the best books that I have listened to thank you for telling your truth
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2020-11-03
great book
Left me wanting more.. You are amazing and must have to share of your time
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mark Lawrence
- 2021-02-13
Good story, not the best performance.
the narrator tries to be too serious throughout, it weakens the actual serious parts of the story. I understand it's the author narrating but her intensity grows tiresome. I feel like I am in detention even when she is describing how she loves her kid.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Mike Dixon
- 2020-01-21
Pretty ho-hum!
She was a real life spy for the CIA so don't expect any inside info other than some general descriptions of training and real general descriptions of operations. I came away with the feeling that being CIA is a very lonely job. You are pretty much restricted to having relationships with your workmates. That being said I'm not sure why she wrote the book and I strongly suggest you google Ms Fox. It may affect how you approach her book.
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