A TIME TO BETRAY
This exhilarating, award-winning memoir of a secret double life reveals the heart-wrenching story of a man who spied for the American government in the ranks of the notorious Revolutionary Guards of Iran, risking everything by betraying his homeland in order to save it.
Reza Kahlili grew up in Tehran surrounded by his close-knit family and friends. But the enlightened Iran of his youth vanished forever, as Reza discovered upon returning home from studying computer science in the United States, when the revolution of 1979 ushered in Ayatollah Khomeini's dark age of religious fundamentalism. Clinging to the hope of a Persian Renaissance, Reza joined the Ayatollah's elite Revolutionary Guards. As Khomeini's tyrannies unfolded, as fellow countrymen turned on each other, and after the deeply personal horrors he witnessed firsthand inside Evin Prison, a shattered and disillusioned Reza returned to America to dangerously become "Wally," a spy for the CIA.
In "A Time to Betray," Reza not only relates his razor's-edge, undercover existence from moment to heart-pounding moment as he supplies vital information from the Iran-Iraq War, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the Iran-Contra affair, and more; he also documents a chain of incredible events that culminates in a nation's fight for freedom that continues to this very day, making this a timely and vital perspective on the future of Iran and the fate of the world.

Timely, riveting, and revealing, A Time to Betray gives readers an unprecedented glimpse into the inner workings of the Iranian government and an insightful look at one of America's greatest enemies. Reza Kahlili was born and grew up in Tehran, Iran's capitol and hub of power. Rebellious and adventurous even as a young boy, Reza attends college in America, where independence and freedom become further etched into his mind. But after the sudden death of his father, Reza leaves his carefree times behind to return home, to a country on the cusp of change. In 1979, the revolution triggers an age of religious fundamentalism, and Reza joins the Revolutionary Guards of Iran. After witnessing much brutal violence and bloodshed under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, Reza travels back to America and becomes a CIA spy named "Wally," where he learns counterintelligence and how to communicate using secret code. Now, for the first time, readers will get an inside look at the clandestine practices and brutal ethos of the notorious unit.