Book Title: The Black Market Concierge: Sanction Busting, Smuggling & Spying for America
Author: Barry Oberholzer
Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 177 pages
About the Book
Barry Oberholzer’s secret life as a confidential informant, infiltrating international organized crime syndicates and sanction-busting activity hit headlines in 2012. Oberholzer reported an array of vital intelligence to the CIA and multiple intelligence agencies across the world. For years, he has worked across the Middle East and behind the scenes as a confidential informant making connections, extracting valuable intelligence, and facing off against America's greatest enemy at every turn.
In The Black Market Concierge, he opens a window into his double life as an informant; informing on the role of key players including major corporations, crime syndicates, politicians and government officials in high-value international smuggling operations.
After exposing corruption at the highest levels of government in South Africa, he is ready to give a no holds barred account of what it is like to live the life of a high-level, confidential informant.
His memoir is a searingly honest account of a boy aviation enthusiast who cascaded into the world of international espionage and how it ultimately sent him in search of salvation in his devout Christian faith. It is a testimony that will move even the most cold hearted.
My Review
Author takes us into a world most of us will never explore. The author navigated a world that many of us have never even read non-ficitional accounts of at all as he tells his life's story. I read many thrillers and books focused on international espionage and political corruption--but, this book takes you into the author's real-life years as a confidential informant to intelligence agencies throughout the world. Oberholzer's experiences and insights as he relates his story really serve to open our eyes a bit more to the complexity of the world around us.
The author's writing style simplifies the complexities. The author does a wonderful job in telling a very full, very thought provoking story without many of the details that readers probably wouldn't really understand anyway. The very methodical, concise summary of events and activities over many years and throughout many countries, makes the book very quick and easy to read. The author's narrative also makes jetting off on a trip to Dubai to work out a diamond deal sound as everyday as a trip to the grocery store. This simple text creates a book that readers pick up, fall into--and are swept along to the end.
Would I recommend The Black Market Concierge by Barry Oberholzer? I think this book and Oberholzer's stories could probably successfully fill hundreds of pages. At times, it seemed that the book moved so quickly from place to place and event to event that readers are left knowing that there was so much more to every story. In spite of the brief accounts, I found the book to be very engaging. The book offered a very eye opening memoir and allowed the author to tell the story that led him to be the person he is today.
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Meet the Author:
Born in Houston, Texas, a former professional rugby player and current CrossFit and Ironman athlete, Barry is the founder of TerrorMate app and is a counter-terrorism and intelligence expert. Formerly Barry served as a confidential informant for Department of Homeland Security, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Belgium Customs Intelligence and HM Revenue & Customs Intelligence in the United Kingdom.
One of his most impactful successes was in his identification of Iranian sanction busting syndicates who smuggled US manufactured aircraft and parts to Iran which led to the arrests of several prominent international businessmen. He also had numerous successes in major illicit cigarette seizures in Europe.
Connect with the Author: Website ~ Twitter
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Ends Oct 21
1 Comments
Love that he used to play rugby!
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