How to Train a Spy by B.W. Leavitt is far more than a spy novel in which espionage missions and the intelligence business are the order of the day. The novel at its core takes a look at the human cost that is merely hiding under the surface of undercover missions – cost that in many cases cannot be seen by the naked eye.
According to the novel, Brian has a shock to his daily routine that drastically interrupts and alters his usual routine. He is informed that his military background has made him qualified to be chosen to go on a classified mission that was of great significance in the whole world when he is summoned before federal agents in an unexpected manner and taken to an underground intelligence facility. The case of Brian highlights the reality that behind each undercover agent is a man with his fears, attachments and responsibilities- and the secrecy can more often than not involve a very high cost.
The author uses the emotional weight to the family of Brian among the most appealing aspects of the book. He takes a month of his life with his wife, Sue Yong, and their children before he starts his wide-ranging training, which is supposedly a temporary military duty. These are tender scenes of anxiety and the silence of goodbyes. Leavitt uses this moment to emphasize on the extent to which espionage has touched the lives of not only the spies themselves but also their loved ones.
The human cost is further brought to the forefront as Brian goes through intensive training in intelligence. He is taken to extreme physical, mental and psychological levels. He is taught to put feelings behind, to identify with nothing, and to become what he is not, all of which are necessary in the job of an operative, but all which take away bits of his old self. The authenticity of these training scenes adds to the emotional impact: Brian needs to become a person who can survive in the hostile land, and to struggle to preserve the values and memories that he is.
The risk of the mission is made worse as Brian goes to a black site in Iran, which is controlled by the Russians and pretends to be a Russian officer. The fact that he collaborates with Jasmine, an Iranian spy who masquerades as his wife requires utter faith between two strangers, faith that is worked out under threats of being killed. They both sail through a realm of espionage, paranoia, and survival or extinction. The emotional weight of their secret identities brings out how undercover jobs compel the operatives to live in an endless isolation process where they conceal their true identity even to the people they are close to.
Probably the most vivid illustration of the human price is in the case of Brian when he is fleeing. In order to safeguard his identity and accomplish the mission, he has to permit his handlers to fake his death in a bloody blast. The moments when he is witnessing his own artificial death, knowing that his loved ones will assume that he is really dead is one of the most pressurizing and emotionally distressing moments in the novel. This intense scene demonstrates the terrible sacrifices the operatives are to suffer-sacrifices which are not limited by the physical hazard but get deeper to the personal losses.
As Brian eventually goes back to the United States to be debriefed, the reader is left to remember that the mission cannot be forgotten even when it comes to its emotional impact. The mental burden, the trauma that they could not get out of, and the doubt in the future are left behind. The description of this aftermath given by Leavitt underscores a fact that has hardly been discussed by spy fiction, and that is that missions can conclude, but the effects they have last.
How to Train a Spy is not just an exciting spy narrative, but a great insight into the human heart in the secret missions. B.W. Leavitt provides a moving suspenseful novel by bringing out the emotional price of secrecy that makes it a must-read to those who enjoy realistic and character-driven thrillers.