The Company: A Novel of the CIA

Robert Littell's fourteenth novel presents a multigenerational saga spanning over 40 years of CIA history. Through both historical and fictional characters, the narrative follows the agency from the Berlin Base in the 1950s through major Cold War events including the Soviet invasion of Hungary, the Bay of Pigs, the Afghan war, and the Gorbachev putsch. At the novel's center is a mole hunt involving the CIA, MI6, KGB, and Mossad. The story depicts agents living double lives while confronting an elusive and formidable enemy. Littell explores internal CIA conflicts between counterintelligence operatives in Washington, including real-life mole hunter James Angleton, and covert action officers in the field. Key characters include Harvey Torriti, known as the Sorcerer, a rule-breaking expert in dirty tricks, and Jack McAuliffe, his apprentice recruited from Yale, who learns tradecraft and the harsh realities of fieldwork. The novel examines CIA operations that were both justified and questionable, depicting agents fighting in a profession marked by moral ambiguity. It serves as both a chronicle of the Cold War and a reflection on an era's end.