Reviews

In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked by Jonna Mendez

jenfantoni's review against another edition

3.0

The fact that it’s a memoir made it more interesting to me but in overall found the writing style bland and the book’s composition disjointed. I nonetheless admire the author and her well deserved success both while in the CIA and after her retirement.

voracious_reader_j's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

arielkirst's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring

5.0

This was fascinating!! I didn't know much about her or the CIA before starting, and she was an excellent conduit through which to learn. Very conversational writing style, flowed nicely.

yumilynn's review against another edition

2.0

40%弃。
相当有趣的回忆录题材，开场特别吸引人。但内容都是浮光掠影的记忆碎片。看了40%，竟然没有一个完整的、细节丰富的故事。这流水账水平我也是服。

ebc726's review

adventurous reflective slow-paced

2.5

savannahhs92's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

3.0

nickmccoy11's review against another edition

adventurous informative tense medium-paced

3.75

kelsieelsie's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

2.5

It started off so promising and quickly devolved into a borning book with the same 15 stories told again and again. Who was the editor? Was there an editor? So much  out of order, we randomly find out her sister died, chapters before we even hear about the cancer diagnosis. She tells the same facts and even the same stories multiple times. This could have been 1/2 the length.

cupcakes_and_coffee's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

I definitely enjoyed this and didn’t want to put down. I have read several books about this time period regarding women spies and their challenges in the CIA. I felt this was a little lighter on detail, but still very good. A probably small thing to others but it really bothered me, is that dates and specific locations weren’t routinely mentioned. Likely the locations may still have to be hidden for security reasons, but I would’ve liked a timeframe for when things were happening that was a bit less general. However, this story is amazing! I’m in awe. One thing this has over most of the other books I’ve read, is it’s a first hand account/memoir. So much of this info could’ve been kept secret forever so we’re fortunate she was allowed and able to tell her story. 

ilikeshortchapters's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0