How to Train a Spy by B.W. Leavitt is an exciting espionage novel that gives the reader an uncommon and fascinating character. The novel focuses on Brian Lewis, a correctional officer in the New York State whose life is just like that of many regular Americans: he has a good job, a family, and the daily life with its mundane routine. However, when two federal agents come to question him in the middle of the night, the world of Brian is plunged into the world of secrets, intricacy, and foreign threats.
The novel starts with a shocking experience that prefigures all the subsequent things. Baffled and stunned, Brian is taken down to a city and into an undetectable intelligence center. It is here that he is informed of something that will alter his life forever: he has been chosen to take part in a very high-profile mission where he has to train in specifications, keep a secret and complete personal sacrifice.
The most interesting element about the story of Brian is that he does not view himself as a hero. He is a man who appreciates responsibility, a husband, and a father. The feeling of his emotional struggle is evident as he struggles with the repercussions of taking the mission. One of the most emotionally touching moments of the novel turns out to be a month-long RV trip with his family, which is like a bitter sweet goodbye in the pretext of rejoining the military.
After Brian makes a commitment, he starts being transformed in a process of hard, realistic training. Whether it is weapons and surveillance, escape techniques or managing identity, his training is very detailed and well established using real-life intelligence methodology. Instead of embracing all the skills at once, Brian strives, adjusts and evolves, and that is good to show that he is not born with courage, which is developed under the influence of hard work.
The very mission lays Brian in the middle of the international tension. When sent to penetrate a secret Russian-Iranian black site facility developing an electromagnetic weapon, he is required to adopt the aspects of a Russian military officer and keep his actions under wraps. The stakes are very high not only to him but also to the security of the world. Accompanied by Jasmine, an Iranian spy who masquerades as his wife, Brian manages to live in the world where a single word, action, choice can make him known.
The most thrilling part of the trip of Brian is possibly his life-threatening escape that is organized by means of a fake demise that will be used to dupe not only the Russian authorities but also a spy network. As the agent sees his own death play out, it haunts him with the price he must pay as an espionage agent.
The novel shows conclusively when Brian, after a long time, returns to the United States to receive debriefing that missions are not terminated by an end to the danger. The psychological effect, the secrecy as well as the uncertainty regarding the future remain long after the assignment is through. But it is this complexity that makes his journey amazing.