‘Moscow Rules‘ by Tony Mendez and Jonna Mendez is out today and I have to say I couldn’t be happier. The book is a thrill ride for spy nerds such as myself who simply wish to read and learn about everything spy related. The book offers an intimate look of how the CIA ran agents and collected information behind the lines of one of the most secretive cities in the world – Moscow. Every page of this book spills secrets.

Tony Mendez was a spy and an American hero, who with a group of his colleagues developed tactics to help CIA agents operate undetected in Moscow. At the height of the Cold War the U.S. was on the losing end, with intelligence gathering operations barely functioning in Moscow as a result of the FSB (the Russian equivalent of the CIA) keeping tabs on all foreigners who were in Moscow. Tony, Jonna, and other brave men and women studied the FSB patterns, perfecting the Spycraft and ultimately turning the tide in favor of the U.S.

‘Moscow Rules’ takes the reader on a journey offering a deeper look into the extreme lengths spies went through to obtain intel on the Russians. In the business of smoke and mirrors, such tactics ensured the safety of the agents. But most importantly, these tactics prevented a clash between the two countries.

More so today than ever before when Russian is taking an aggressive approach to undermine our democracy, books such as ‘Moscow Rule’ are imperative to our society. We mush remember that even today there are heroic men and women who operate in the shadow behind the enemy line.

It’s a splendid read. It’s informative and engaging. Moscow Rules is by far my favorite nonfiction of the year thus far.