In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 241 ratings

Price: 17.05

Last update: 08-23-2024


About this item

The bestselling coauthor of The Moscow Rules and Argo tells her riveting, courageous story of being a female spy at the height of the Cold War

Jonna Hiestand Mendez began her CIA career as a “contract wife” performing secretarial duties for the CIA as a convenience to her husband, a young officer stationed in Europe. She needed his permission to open a bank account or shut off the gas to their apartment. Yet Mendez had a talent for espionage, too, and she soon took on bigger and more significant roles at the Agency. She parlayed her interest in photography into an operational role overseas, an unlikely area for a woman in the CIA. Often underestimated, occasionally undermined, she lived under cover and served tours of duty all over the globe, rising first to become an international spy and ultimately to Chief of Disguise at CIA’s Office of Technical Service.

In True Face recounts not only the drama of Mendez’s high-stakes work—how this savvy operator parlayed her “everywoman” appeal into incredible subterfuge—but also the grit and good fortune it took for her to navigate a misogynistic world. This is the story of an incredible spy career and what it took to achieve it.


Top reviews from the United States

Roberta
5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating & courageous adventure
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2024
I binge-read "In True Face" because I didn't want to put it down. It's an adventurous peek into the CIA's culture through the lens of an insider's perspective and kick-ass woman. Jonna Mendez refuses to be stopped by the CIA's reign, in the early days, of rampant misogyny. Instead it galvanizes her to show how "soft skills" and tenacity can be a super power. The book also brings to life the courage, dedication, and patriotism these public servants live by. A decade or so ago I read "Argo" (coauthored by Jonna with her late husband, Tony Mendez) and still remember it as a jaw-dropping story...worthy of a Hollywood movie and then Oscar.
Andre
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2024
My 85 year old mother saw this author talking about this book on TV so I bought it for her. She loves the story line, the mystery, and the character s. She just wishes it was in larger print.
Inga's Adventures
5.0 out of 5 stars Great storytelling
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2024
I love spy books that feel authentic, not the Hollywood version, and you can't get more authentic than this--a woman who persevered in a traditionally male oriented CIA to achieve great things. I loved all her anecdotes, told with warmth. All the disguises were amazing to read about.
Michel
3.0 out of 5 stars Needed Serious Editing
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024
Primed to enjoy the book by all the superlatives on the cover and the online recommendations, the book did not deliver. I did enjoy many parts and appreciated the author’s depiction of how she navigated the entrenched misogynistic world of the CIA. However, many parts were repetitious, unfocused, and felt as if she gets bored with a story and jumps to another topic.
A few quibbles about repetitions. First, how she escaped the shadow of her older sister, yet her repetitions of these comments in odd places demonstrate that she never did manage to overcome comparisons to her sister. Second, is how often she reveals her struggle against the misogyny of the CIA only to drop the subject with banal comments that she was too busy with engaging work or too entrenched in the exotic surroundings to give much thought to the patterns of sexism. The other is the constant egotistic and self-congratulatory comments about how she excelled in everything because she applied herself to the task. Nonetheless, it is an easy read and succeeds when the author fully develops interesting part of the clandestine missions and the culture of the spy agency and diplomacy.
Joan K.
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Read
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2024
Like a lot of people who join the CIA, Jonna Mendez wanted a life that promised adventure, intellectual challenge, and travel to different countries and cultures. Her memoir, In True Face, written by a woman who started out as a GS-3 or -4 and eventually became the Chief of the Disguise Division at the CIA, more than delivers on that promise. The 26 chapters in this book are an easy read as the typeface and line spacing are larger than most books. There is also an Index in the back of the book.

Jonna and her first husband, John Goeser, dedicated their whole lives to the CIA to serve their country. He was a CIA Security Officer; she worked in the CIA’s Office of Technical Services. Her work often involved “matching wits with Russia’s KGB, East Germany’s Stasi, Cuba’s DGI and China’s MSS” where she became involved in many dangerous situations. The first part of the book detailed a dizzying number of operations she was involved in without naming exact cities or locations (probably for security reasons). It also goes into great detail about her photography work and/or developing films as a photo operations officer.

Not only did she have to stay focused on her high-stakes work, she also had many professional challenges, her greatest being Tom Smallwood, her Chief in the subcontinent, who worked hard to destroy her career but was ultimately unsuccessful in sabotaging her reputation and her performance.

There is a lot of detail in the book about hostile interrogation and defensive driving training (executing a reverse 180 maneuver while looking down the barrel of a gun) at the Farm, the CIA’s training center, south of Washington, DC.

On a humorous aside, she talks about the time she was on a trip once to Kolkata, when she told a woman who was pushing into her personal space to “Stop pushing!” Little did she know, that woman was Mother Teresa.

After her 23 years of marriage to John, they decided to part ways. When they did, she called her friend Tony Mendez, an artist and Chief of the Clandestine Imaging Division in OTS. He immediately dropped everything to go meet her. Their relationship bloomed and he ended up proposing to her. They were married in 1991. Tony received the CIA’s Trailblazer Award and the movie Argo depicted Tony’s rescue of six diplomats in Tehran. They both retired early; he, at age 50, she, after she had her first child at age 47. He took up painting again. She became a mother, teacher, photographer, public speaker, author and event planner/Vice President for a music foundation. They were founding members of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

At the end of the book, she gives tribute to another trailblazer—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court Justice who, “on many levels, represented women in America and their struggle for equal treatment in the workplace.”

All in all, I found this a fascinating read.
Teresa Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, Motivating, Educational, Exciting
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024
This book was even more interesting than I could have imagined. Reading about Mendez being victorious in the male dominated field of intelligence was fascinating. I felt like I was reading some fictitious spy novel, but am so glad to know it really happened. What a badass this woman was/is, to just work harder than everyone else and move up the ladder. To me, this is the perfect book to read and give to my daughters. Jonna Mendez helped change the CIA from the inside out.
Foodmaven
4.0 out of 5 stars very interesting new history
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2024
The parallel stories of an unplanned spy and a woman fighting for a place in a mans organization is very interesting. Fun to read current history where my own experiences and memories overlap with the authors story
Amma K
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book About Our Unsung CIA Heroes
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2024
This book opened my heart, mind, and soul to the heroes of the CIA. We hear of military heroes but we don’t know the women and men in the CIA that are risking their lives for our country. I am in awe of their dedication and sacrifice. You must read this book to gain a new perspective about the American heroes at the CIA.

Best Sellers in

 
 

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 456
17.71
 
 

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 14450
19.69
 
 

You Never Know: A Memoir

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 2697
22.04
 
 

Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 971
22.04
 
 

The Glass Castle: A Memoir

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 43549
17.05
 
 

Butcher's Work: True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 125
16.45
 
 

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 26338
20.94
 
 

The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 247
19.68