Rating: 
Summary: More details would be fine
Review: Although this book does not reveal the precise chemical formulas for the Novichok class of nerve agents it introduces into the hidden world of russian chem-bio weapon designers. The intelligence still fears to make public that Novichoks belong to organophosporus compounds containing the double halogenated oxime like -O-N=C(F)Cl group and that beside P.P.Kirpichev also I.V.Martnov and Yu.A.Kruglak from GosNIOKhT developed the principle of these extremely toxic OP oximes during the mid 60's already (and published also) which resist reactivation by other oximes. These chemicals an be made by heating only of substituted 1,3,2-dioxaphospholanes indicated slighly in this book. Hopefully int'l organizations will make public more details for the protection of other citizens than just army soldiers soon.
Rating:
Summary: Uncle Joe
Review: An awesome book about my Uncle Joe. Most of the family didn't know for years what he endured. This book is a great tribute to our family history. Our family is very proud. I doubt this review will help you much in deciding whether or not to buy the book, but several of my friends have read it and had a hard time putting it down until finished.
Rating:
Summary: Uncle Joe
Review: An awesome book about my Uncle Joe. Most of the family didn't know for years what he endured. This book is a great tribute to our family history. Our family is very proud. I doubt this review will help you much in deciding whether or not to buy the book, but several of my friends have read it and had a hard time putting it down until finished.
Rating: 
Summary: Real Patriot Games
Review: An excellent book by a well-know reporter and critic of America's intelligence establishment. The book details how for over 20 years, a dedicated group of FBI agents "dangled" and then "ran" US Army Sgt. Cassidy against the GRU (the Soviet equivalent of the US DIA). It is a book about an ordinary soldier's extraordinary dedication to duty and country, and how he helped his country in the darkest days of the Cold War against the "Evil Empire" (and evil, it was). America was very fortunate to have men such as Cassidy and the FBI agents he worked with. None of them did it for money (Cassidy did not keep any of the hundreds-of-thousands of dollars the GRU gave him) or fame -- these men kept secrets, in some cases they even took them to their graves. The book ends on a frustrating note as Washington bureaucrats step in at the end and do not allow the case to run its full course. The only flaw with the book is that I would have liked to have gotten to know Cassidy a bit better. But, overall, an excellent and well-documented read with some interesting twists-and-turns (e.g., the involvement of a current Mexican Congressman -- read it, you'll see) and one which shines some light on some of the men who won the Cold War for us and for freedom. The good guys do win on occasion!
Rating:
Summary: Recommended reading by nervegas.com
Review: David Wise writes the story of a spy thriller. Nerve Agents are actually only a side-line story. Much of the focus is on the FBI, HUMINT, and counter intel. For those familiar with CBW, the story about dangling a deception such as Nerve Agent GJ, is intreging. GJ is not chemically identified, but presented as a protential Nerve Agent that would have required considerable efforts in binary weapons technology to ever be of any use. The author contends that this deception might have inadvertently lead the Soviets to create their Novichok class of agents. The discussion of GJ leads one to suspect it was a relative of the GV-series, such as Nerve Agent GP (GP11, or GV). In the context of GJ, the author reveals that there were actually many more agents than just the familiar GA, GB, GD, GE, and GF. There G-series actually went all the way down to GH (isopentyl sarin). The treatment of Nerve Agents is conversational, and suits the purpose of his book. David Wise made many interviews and performed as an investigative journalist to deliver a story that up to now has not been told. It does reveal the cultures of the people of the time, and is suggestive of many areas of future historic investigation.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended reading by nervegas.com
Review: David Wise writes the story of a spy thriller. Nerve Agents are actually only a side-line story. Much of the focus is on the FBI, HUMINT, and counter intel. For those familiar with CBW, the story about dangling a deception such as Nerve Agent GJ, is intreging. GJ is not chemically identified, but presented as a protential Nerve Agent that would have required considerable efforts in binary weapons technology to ever be of any use. The author contends that this deception might have inadvertently lead the Soviets to create their Novichok class of agents. The discussion of GJ leads one to suspect it was a relative of the GV-series, such as Nerve Agent GP (GP11, or GV). In the context of GJ, the author reveals that there were actually many more agents than just the familiar GA, GB, GD, GE, and GF. There G-series actually went all the way down to GH (isopentyl sarin). The treatment of Nerve Agents is conversational, and suits the purpose of his book. David Wise made many interviews and performed as an investigative journalist to deliver a story that up to now has not been told. It does reveal the cultures of the people of the time, and is suggestive of many areas of future historic investigation.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Book That Should have Been a Magazine Article
Review: Dont buy this book....or if you must read it get it at the Library. This book would have been an excellent article in New York Magazine, but instead the author chose to stretch the available material into a book, much to the chagrin of this reader. The premise of the book about Cassidy's role as a double agent, passing bogus material about nerve gas research while assigned to the Edgewood Aresenal is fascinating stuff, but by about page 85 Cassidy has been transferred from Edgewood. So what is the rest of the book? Filler!!! The reader is treated to lengthy descriptions of irrelevant material; "FBI agent so and so went to college at Notre Dame and had 3 kids, he was a hard worker but playfull too." Who cares, there is too much of this in this book and it is obvious filler. Wise makes things worse by focusing much of the story on the FBI's operations directed against two low-level GRU illegals; so low-level that the Justice Department ultimately declined to prosecute them. While chapters are devoted to this material, almost no time is spent exploring the most fascinating issue raised by the book; did the US unintentionally boost the Soviet Biological Warfare effort with the material Cassidy passed? This should have accounted for much more of the book but did not. Once again this one was a dog of a book; much better suited to be a magazine article.
Rating:
Summary: Another Book That Should have Been a Magazine Article
Review: Excellent writing on a subject that must have been very difficult to research and document, even for an author of David Wise's experience. It exposes a previously unknown counter intelligence operation known as WALLFLOWER, and flushes several GRU spys and "illegals" at the same time. Why PALMETTO and his wife, caught red handed numerous times by the FBI, wern't prosecueted by a spinelss US Attorney Generals office remains a sad mystery.
Rating:
Summary: FBI Success story
Review: Smoothly written and absorbing. Not my usual kind of book, but well worth picking up. In 1959, at the height of the Cold War, the FBI decided to dangle a prospect in front of a Soviet embassy employee named Polikarpov. Policarpov, a GRU officer, took the bait and enlisted Sergeant Joseph Cassidy as a for-cash agent. The relationship continued for twenty-three years, during which Cassidy solicited information that netted ten other Soviet spies and funneled an enormous mass of true, false, misleading, and trivial intelligence eastward. Much of the intelligence concerned the nerve gas research and production facility at Edgewood Arsenal, and may have led the Soviets into expensive and dangerous blind alleys. Details of the operation, especially the capture and release of two Mexican nationals who were confessed spies, make an interesting account of a US intelligence success not previously publicized.
Rating:
Summary: FBI Success story
Review: Smoothly written and absorbing. Not my usual kind of book, but well worth picking up. In 1959, at the height of the Cold War, the FBI decided to dangle a prospect in front of a Soviet embassy employee named Polikarpov. Policarpov, a GRU officer, took the bait and enlisted Sergeant Joseph Cassidy as a for-cash agent. The relationship continued for twenty-three years, during which Cassidy solicited information that netted ten other Soviet spies and funneled an enormous mass of true, false, misleading, and trivial intelligence eastward. Much of the intelligence concerned the nerve gas research and production facility at Edgewood Arsenal, and may have led the Soviets into expensive and dangerous blind alleys. Details of the operation, especially the capture and release of two Mexican nationals who were confessed spies, make an interesting account of a US intelligence success not previously publicized.
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