America at Night

by Larry J. Kolb

A former CIA spy and author of Overworld recounts the stories of master criminals Robert Sensi and Richard Hirschfeld, describing their ties to the Republican Party and Al Qaeda, their numerous multi-million-dollar investment scams, and the partnership by which they smuggled billionaire Russian mafiosos into the United States. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2007

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is not much in this book besides what is given away on the cover. It only started to become interesting on page 92, when he said, after the events of 9-11 President Bush "fell under the spell of a cabal of neocon warmongers who'd never actually been to war themselves." Kolb suggests the disastrous Iraq intervention has resulted in the US spending a trillion dollars to, in effect, create the world's largest terrorist training camp. The only people who have benefited are the war profiteers.

If you cannot handle a hard cynical view of history, this book is not for you. Unfortunately, with so many references to his previous book, "Overworld" actually may be the one to read instead of this one. He does raise questions about the Republican party connection to criminals and the preference to resort to dirty tricks.

As for me, my cynicism peaked with the 2000 election. What kind of democracy asks the question "should we count the votes?" and the Supreme Court says "No. Don't bother."?

[Will Irvine · Rating 2 out of 5]

AMERICA AT NIGHT begins with an intriguing premise. Ex-CIA operative stumbles upon a plot by two rogue CIA elements to subvert the 2004 presidential election by manufacturing a connection between high ranking members of Kerry's election campaign and Al-Qaeda. And there is plenty here to satisfy anyone who is interested in the secret world of spies--the stuff involving Kolb's CIA work with Muhammad Ali and others is particularly good.

What got me, though, was how the rest of the book is Kolb trying to convince us of the mortal danger he is in-- he has meddled with that faceless, ubiquitous government entity that will leave you dead and make it look like an accident. When nothing remotely menacing happens, we feel cheated, and he comes off as just paranoid.

[Ralph Roe · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is attempting to reveal the dealings of someone who appears to be a confidence man, a shyster, who claimed to be connected to the CIA (I think doubtful in reality). There seems to be a lot of gross exaggeration on the importance of this individual. The individual apparently had an alias and pretended to be friends with important people. That is not a new story nor a unique story.

The author has included a lot of filler material on what he ate at restaurants, where he was driving in a car, and similar trivia.

The author claims to be ex-CIA in some way or another. Perhaps he was a contractor for awhile, but there is no evidence he had any important position?

In other words, a mountain made from a molehill.

Boring and not worth my time.

[Randolph Eustace-Walden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Larry's earlier book, a memoir entitled "Overworld", and was completely engrossed. Its subject matter - espionage, spying, CIA, covert operations - is of interest to me, not only in my choice of reading material, but writing material as well. I have a contemporary spy novel (the first in a three-part series) in the research stage at the moment, so I was drawn to his book(s). Clear, concise, realistic writing and situations illustrate his life as a covert operative. Fascinating reading for anyone interested in the subject matter.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK. Larry Kolb led a very interesting life, detailed better in his first book "Overworld". He was recruited by the CIA to give them information on the basis of who he had connections to (and it helped his father was a former case officer). If this kind of stuff interests you, check in his first book.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Larry Kolb was a CIA operative investigating the ways of rogue agents to discredit John Kerry in the pres election of 2004. It is educational in that the ways of things behind the scenes are much different than we think. Or not. Conspiracy theory stuff.

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy Cow. I recommend this to anyone even mildly curious as to the shady dealings of individuals in our government, the CIA, and other organizations. I also recommend this book to fans of Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, etc... as this is not only more amazing but also a true story.

[Gerrym · Rating 4 out of 5]

extremely interesting, get past any hint of the author's self importance and just enjoy a fascinating story that should be told.

[Travis Arp · Rating 1 out of 5]

Still struggling to figure out what the book was about. The story drags on and never really goes anywhere, and agree with the reviews previous about this trying to be a suspenseful political thriller come to life; but nothing really ever happens. Do read if you want a thorough recounting of what this guy eats at every meeting.