Books: King of Spies, by Blaine Harden (2017)

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I heard about this book a while back in an interview with the author on NPR. It is an astounding (Non-Fiction, caps intended) tale of "the dark reign of America's Spymaster in Korea." Most of the book takes place during Korean War (June 1951- July 1953), and tells about the life and times of a middle-school dropout from Florida who joined the Air Force about the time World War 11 ended. He went from working in a car pool on Guam to Korea in 1946. There, he achieved some unbelievable feats. Just a few: youngest master sergeant in the Air Force, age 19, close friend, treated like a son of President of South Korea, Syngman Rhee. He was 20 when the war started, ended up commanding a (mostly South Korean) code break team that helped stop the North Korean army from overrunning the retreating US Eighth Army soon after the war began, was instrumental in recovering a Russian MIG-15 fighter shot down behind enemy lines, sent spies into North Korea (many died), was promoted to Major eventually, and ended up being "retired" from the Air Force, put in a military mental hospital. given shock treatments and drugs, then set free. He brought about $200,000 in cash (stolen, no doubt) wrote a very self-praising autobiography, many lies included. This man accomplished real and unbelievable intelligence feats during the war, and yet, he was no hero, really. He was accused of child molestation, never liked women and was a complex larger than life character. This is getting long, so I will say the book was written by a respected journalist/author named Blaine Harden, with copious verification of the facts. I could hardly put it down.