Review:
The Making of a Spy is based on
the true events of Word War 11. The report like book focusses on a few characters.
From their early years and what has shaped them to become heroes during the
great war.
The author highlighted their
skills step by step which made them unique for the field. A unique way of storytelling
as it cut through the normal backstory to the actual plot at hand. The clarity
of the book, devoid of any descriptions highlights the drama of those years
with brief sentences.
It is definitely a different read
which makes it quite easy to read. In short – a synopsis of the second world
war with some human elements in it to make it believable and enjoyable.
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Isiac grew up without a father.
His grandfather began teaching Isiac to hunt and fish when he was only 6 years
old. That helped Isiac develop his skills of observation. Isiac acquired the
ability to notice even the slightest changes in his environment and to
interpret their causes.
During the Great Depression,
Isiac used his hunting and fishing skills to feed his mother, sister, and
brother. Isiac's experience with and participation in bootlegging taught him
the importance of planning. His skills in developing plans and contingency
plans helped Isiac to anticipate potential problems. Isiac learned that it is
much easier to avoid potential problems than it is to try to solve them once
they occur.
By the time Isiac was 15 years
old, he had a black belt in Judo and was multi-lingual: He was fluent in
English, German, Japanese, and Polish.
When WW2 began, Isiac was drafted
into the Army. Although unintentional, Isiac's childhood experiences, along
with the skills he learned in the Army, became an integral part in “The Making
of a Spy”.
About the author:
Jay Johnson most recent work is a
novella, The Soul's Tariff, about the painter Tintoretto and 16th century
Venice on the cusp of war with the Ottoman empire to the east.
His novel Gold Diggers, a
slipstream urban fantasy set in Las Vegas, follows dwarves and elves living at
the fringes of society. It was reviewed favorably by Kirkus Reviews:
"...maintain(s) a persistent sense of mystery. Johnson grounds his story
by showing the peculiar beings from the perspectives of the humans..."
"Johnson, not one to let his narrative lull, boosts his story with
riveting subplots involving a conspiracy, a betrayal and a disappearing
corpse." "... its creativeness and exuberance are
unquestionable."
His first novel History of the
Unnameables, based on a novella originally published by Duct Tape Press in the
late '90s under the title King of Siam, was one of the first works of fiction
to address fears of cyberterrorism. He began the story after talking to a
number of friends working in blackworks, mainly conflicted science and math
academics, who were aware of the problem but were not being listened to.
Invisible City was orphaned by a
major publisher but has found new life in ebooks formats. It adds the murky
world of bioethics and the porous nature of the new digital reality to the
world of spying.
As a filmmaker (under his given
name Jay Wright) he was included at the Mexican National Museum of Art's
(MUNAL) Biennial of Poetry and Video in 2002. His work has appeared at Cannes,
and at other film festivals where the films have won numerous awards. His films
and videos have also played internationally at galleries and exhibitions. He
has also been nominated for a Guggenheim.
