The Cold War meets Mad Men in the form of Karel Koecher, a double agent whose shifting loyalties and over-the-top hedonism reverberated from New York to Moscow
 
In the mid-1970s, the CIA and KGB watched Karel Koecher closely—they were both convinced he was working for the enemy. And they were both right. Traveling with his wife, Hana, Koecher posed as a Czechoslovak asylum seeker and arrived in the US as a Communist sleeper agent. After parlaying a doctorate from Columbia into a job at the CIA, Koecher proceeded to operate as a double agent at the height of the Cold War.
 
Shunning a low profile, the Koechers embraced Manhattan’s high life—with cocaine, swinging, and parties emblematic of the times and their penchant for risk. Hana, who was no more than a shy teenager when she arrived, grew into a sophisticated international diamond dealer who relayed messages to Karel’s handlers. Riding a wave of euphoria, the Koechers felt unstoppable. But it was too good to last.
 
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 hard to know what truth was being fought for, and to what end.

The Cold War meets Mad Men in form of Karel Koechner, the most successful double agent who lived a life of shifting morals and blow-out hedonism from New York to Moscow.

In the mid-1970s, the CIA and KGB both suspected Karel Koecher was working for the enemy. They were both right. With his wife Hana, Koecher arrived in the US as a KGB agent, posing as an anti-communist defector, and he soon learned that performing well in academia was the fastest path to the CIA. After graduating from Columbia he swiftly entered the ranks of the CIA, becoming a double agent during the height of the cold war.

The Koechers eventually embraced the 1970s Manhattan high life — cocaine, swinging, parties.  Hana made money as a diamond dealer, occasionally relaying messages to Karel’s handlers. The Koechers’ lifestyle reflected both the times and their risk-taking. It was the apex of Karel’s career, spy by day, swinger by night. The Koechers made it and even the once shy Hana got carried away with the euphoria. Life is good, and the Koechers felt unstoppable.  But it was too good to last.

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