BREAKING COVER HB

A real-life, can’t-put-down spy memoir. The CIA is looking for walking contradictions. Recruiters seek out potential agents who can keep a secret yet pull classified information out of others; who love their country but are willing to leave it behind for dangerous places; who live double lives, but can be trusted with some of the nation’s most highly sensitive tasks. Michele Rigby Assad was one of those people.

As a CIA agent and a counterterrorism expert, Michele soon found that working undercover was an all-encompassing job. The threats were real; the assignments perilous. Michele spent over a decade in the agency—a woman leading some of the most highly skilled operatives on the planet, secretly serving in some of the most treacherous areas of the Middle East, and at risk as a target for ISIS. But deep inside, Michele wondered: Could she really do this job? Had she misunderstood what she thought was God’s calling on her life? Did she have what it would take to survive?

The answer came when Michele faced her ultimate mission, one with others’ lives on the line—and it turned out to have been the plan for her all along. In 'Breaking Cover', Michele has at last been cleared to drop cover and tell her story: one of life-or-death stakes; of defeating incredible odds; and most of all, of discovering a faith greater than all her fears.

After a decade of government service, Michele left the undercover life to serve as a public speaker, trainer, and international security consultant focused on the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and Asia. She and her husband, Joseph, live in Florida.

Michele holds a master's degree in contemporary Arab studies from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a political science degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Michele credits student-led mission trips to Egypt, Russia, and Ukraine and a study abroad program in Egypt, Israel, and the West Bank as being the catalysts for her passion for foreign cultures and international travel. The year she spent studying in the Middle East changed the course of her life, taking her from rural central Florida to the front lines of the war on terror. Michele is motivated to use her unique platform to educate and inspire, showing how critical courage is to living a life of impact and purpose.

Michele writes about her many passions at www.michelerigbyassad.com, where she features articles on counterterrorism, personal security, the Middle East, faith, and inspiration. Connect with her there, as well as on Facebook (Michele Rigby Assad) and Twitter @MicheleRigAssad.

Hardcover: 250 pages
Publisher: Tyndale Momentum (6 Feb. 2018)
ISBN-13: 978-1496419590