Dick Holm joined the CIA in the 1960s and rose rapidly through the ranks to become Bureau Chief in Paris, eventually receiving the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA's highest award.
The first posting in his eventful and action packed career was to Laos, where he served in the CIA's 'Secret War' against the Communists in the lead-up to the Vietnam War. He was then sent to the Congo and suffered near fatal injuries after a plane crash in remote jungle. Healed by local tribesmen, his horrific burns treated with snake oil and tree bark, he subsequently spent two years in a United States hospital undergoing extensive surgery and skin grafts.
Dick Holm worked in Hong Kong and Brussels as well as Paris, and was instrumental in anti-terrorism operations during Carlos the Jackal's campaign of terror.
In this fascinating memoir, Dick Holm not only gives as inside view of life as a CIA officer, but poignantly describes his appalling injuries after the plane crash in the Congo and his amazing fight for survival.
