A retired intelligence operative turns his analytical gaze on ordinary life-revealing the hidden espionage we all practice every day. In this series of penetrating essays, a former spymaster applies the tools of intelligence analysis to the most mundane human behaviors. What he discovers is both unsettling and oddly comforting: we are all, in our own ways, practitioners of deception. From the cover stories we maintain in relationships to the intelligence gathering of social media stalking, from the safe houses we build in our own minds to the propaganda of self-improvement culture-each chapter exposes the spy craft inherent in everyday life. Written with the precision of an analyst and the melancholy wisdom of someone who has seen too much, these essays explore:

How dating profiles function like forged documents

Why office politics mirror Cold War intelligence games

The way family stories become classified information

How we all maintain "legends"-manufactured backstories that explain who we want to be

Neither cynical celebration nor moral condemnation, this work asks a deeper question: if deception is universal, what does authenticity even mean? For readers who've ever wondered about the difference between their public face and private self, who've sensed the gap between their dating app persona and their actual desires, who've suspected that everyone else might be improvising too-this book offers both uncomfortable recognition and surprising solace. We are all unreliable narrators of our own lives. The only question is: who are you really, when no one is watching?