The Liar: How a Double Agent in the CIA Became the Cold War's Last Honest Man

Karel Koecher was a Czechoslovak asylum seeker who arrived in the US as a Communist sleeper agent. He posed as a doctor and worked as a double agent for the CIA at the height of the Cold War. He and his wife, Hana, lived a high life in Manhattan, but their double lives were eventually exposed, and they were both convicted of espionage.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 15 September 2022
Publisher: PublicAffairs,U.S.

In the mid-1970s, the CIA and KGB closely monitored Karel Koecher, both believing he was working for the enemy. And they were both correct. Accompanied by his wife, Hana, Koecher posed as a Czechoslovak asylum seeker and arrived in the US as a Communist sleeper agent. After leveraging a doctorate from Columbia into a job at the CIA, Koecher operated as a double agent during the height of the Cold War.

Shunning a low profile, the Koechers embraced the high life of Manhattan, characterized by cocaine, swinging, and parties that reflected their adventurous spirit and penchant for risk. Hana, who was just a shy teenager when she arrived, transformed into a sophisticated international diamond dealer who relayed messages to Karel's handlers. Riding a wave of euphoria, the Koechers felt unstoppable. However, it was all too fleeting.

Using newly declassified documents, interrogation tapes, and extraordinary firsthand accounts from the Koechers themselves, Cunningham reconstructs their double lives and the fading Cold War, where a strange moral fog made it difficult to discern what truth was being fought for and to what end.

Weight: 448g
Dimension: 161 x 242 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781541700796