What if the next war isn’t fought with tanks or missiles, but with ordinary people turned into covert weapons? B.W. Leavitt’s gripping new novel, How to Train a Spy, rips open the curtain on modern espionage, where individuals like protagonist Brian Lewis are caught in a silent global conflict most citizens will never see.
Published by Callaghan Publications in May 2025, the novel takes readers beyond action sequences and into the chilling machinery of international power games. How to Train a Spy doesn’t glorify espionage; it dissects it. Brian, a retired Army Sergeant and corrections officer, is forcibly recruited into a clandestine government program. Promised protection for his family and offered an “opportunity” to serve a greater good, Brian is erased from civilian life and systematically rebuilt into a covert asset. What makes Leavitt’s story so unsettling is its realism. The novel chronicles Brian’s training on the next generation of technologies: virtual reality combat simulations, neural reprogramming, and language implants that make him a Russian master speaker in a matter of hours. Though these aspects read like sci-fi, they plunge readers into current-day news on AI wars, cyberattacks, and psychological operations. But this isn’t science fiction.
How to Train a Spy leads us to question what governments may already be testing in these kinds of technologies. The moral implications are staggering: How much should any government have over its citizens? Does the death of one man justify the pursuit of national security, or is he merely a piece on the world’s chessboard? It’s not a hero saves the world type of thing, Leavitt says. It’s one system that shapes human beings into weapons of never-ending shadow war. Brian’s experience is dramatic, but it is one of tragedy. This broader lens sets How to Train a Spy apart from other thrillers. It’s not about flashy gadgets or suave agents. It’s about the machinery of control and those crushed beneath its wheels. Available now in Kindle and paperback formats worldwide on Amazon, How to Train a Spy challenges readers to question whether safety is worth the price of autonomy