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Mobius: A Memoir
"The only way you can tell the truth is through fiction," a veteran NSA senior told Richard Thieme. A Memoir does just that. It is about a spy but not a typical “spy novel;” it is a love story but definitely not a “romance." Mobius is a stunning exploration of the impact of a life of deception and professional intelligence work which illuminates the world in which we all now live.
218 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 4, 2021
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15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 24, 2024
An otherworldly unreal tale about reality - not for the faint of heart
I operated in the "wilderness of mirrors" as a KGB illegal for ten years during the Cold War. Born and raised in Germany, I took on the identity of a person born in the United States. As a result, I forgot who I really was and lived in an alternate reality, just like Mobius. Thieme had to have worked in intelligence to have such an understanding of the moral challenges we faced.
Mobius is the Forest Gump of the intelligence community. This fascinating "memoir" is as real as it is surreal and keeps you guessing from start to finish.
I watched the speech “Playing through the Pain” Thieme gave at DEF CON seven years ago. (It is still available on Youtube). I cannot remember having ever heard anything so deep and intrinsically moral, inclusive of the human dilemma. This level of intellect is hard to find across all media these days.
The hero of the memoir is a composite of several agents. There are many parallels to my past reality. The deeper I got into the book, the more I was reminded of Kafka. "The Castle" and "The Trial" are two of my favorite books. Alienation is all too real. I also get a touch of nihilism. (Ecclesiastes 1-2). Of course, it is always possible that I am looking in the mirror. Nowadays we all lie much more often than we speak the truth. And when you do speak the truth people probably think: "What is he hiding?".
It gets really confusing when we mold ourselves according to the (perceived) perception of others. Before you know it, we have a self-inflicted multiple personality disorder. I can prove that I had at least two permanent distinct personalities who finally became one when I came out of hiding. . My wife never knew which personality would show up. She told people that I was a chameleon.
Finally, Thieme's description of PTSD is haunting. I think I understand everything as I read it, but then I pause and wonder. Do I really? If this were a real memoir, no problem. If I it 1000% fiction, no
problem either. But now that I know the author, I can't help guessing how much of himself he put in there. Jack Barsky, author of Deep Undercover.
I operated in the "wilderness of mirrors" as a KGB illegal for ten years during the Cold War. Born and raised in Germany, I took on the identity of a person born in the United States. As a result, I forgot who I really was and lived in an alternate reality, just like Mobius. Thieme had to have worked in intelligence to have such an understanding of the moral challenges we faced.
Mobius is the Forest Gump of the intelligence community. This fascinating "memoir" is as real as it is surreal and keeps you guessing from start to finish.
I watched the speech “Playing through the Pain” Thieme gave at DEF CON seven years ago. (It is still available on Youtube). I cannot remember having ever heard anything so deep and intrinsically moral, inclusive of the human dilemma. This level of intellect is hard to find across all media these days.
The hero of the memoir is a composite of several agents. There are many parallels to my past reality. The deeper I got into the book, the more I was reminded of Kafka. "The Castle" and "The Trial" are two of my favorite books. Alienation is all too real. I also get a touch of nihilism. (Ecclesiastes 1-2). Of course, it is always possible that I am looking in the mirror. Nowadays we all lie much more often than we speak the truth. And when you do speak the truth people probably think: "What is he hiding?".
It gets really confusing when we mold ourselves according to the (perceived) perception of others. Before you know it, we have a self-inflicted multiple personality disorder. I can prove that I had at least two permanent distinct personalities who finally became one when I came out of hiding. . My wife never knew which personality would show up. She told people that I was a chameleon.
Finally, Thieme's description of PTSD is haunting. I think I understand everything as I read it, but then I pause and wonder. Do I really? If this were a real memoir, no problem. If I it 1000% fiction, no
problem either. But now that I know the author, I can't help guessing how much of himself he put in there. Jack Barsky, author of Deep Undercover.
January 16, 2022
Mind-bending and fascinating!
January 9, 2024
Full of bravado, foul language, torture, sexism. Simply awful.
June 1, 2021
This is Richard Thieme's best work to date. Mobius is a trip through a surreal hall of mirrors known as the Intelligence Community, at times gripping or depressing, but always dazzling. Knowing something of that world, I feel Thieme nailed it. The only unrealistic thing in Mobius was the happy ending - unlike Nick, most IC officers never pay the terrible price required to save their souls. What made the difference for Nick was his love for Penny, for at its heart, Mobius is a love story. Nick's love for Penny (regardless of whether she loves him back) gives him clarity and strength to fight the darkness threatening to engulf him. Penny's patients also move Nick (and the reader), especially Paul, an Iraq vet with PTSD who Thieme brings to life in quick, deft strokes. As for the main character Nick, he's a George Smiley for our times, world weary, cynical, yet retaining enough idealism for us to root for him despite the terrible things he does.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews