Harlot war den "Hohen Heiligen" auf der Spur, einer mächtigen Gruppe innerhalb der "Agency" und verdächtig, den grössten Verrat, die schlimmsten Verbrechen in der Geschichte der Geheimdienste begangen zu haben. Along the way we meet Harry's formidably crusty father Cal (also his CIA mentor), Harry's bullying, macho, sexually damaged colleague Dix Butler, a luscious stewardess named Modene Murphy (modeled after famed courtesan Judith Campbell Exner), Sam Giancana, Frank Sinatra, Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Fidel Castro, and others. As he drives, there is a meandering discourse on Harry’s family history, a pirate ghost, and ruminations about sex with his mistress.

The metaphor of the harlot shows how performing a role turns the CIA into a self-perpetuating fantasy world with no clear boundaries as to where its authentic identity really begins or ends.I remember the scene where the protagonist and Kittredge walk out of a Lenny Bruce show, offended at his jokes.

In 2005, he won the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from The National Book Foundation. You have three CIA officers (Harry, Cal, and Kittredge) all ignoring the most basic trade craft (not to mention breaking the law) by listing our national secrets on paper and then passing them to third parties. We have a fjord in the middle of Mount Desert, a spectacular four-mile passage by water between promontories on either side. At first it appears to be the autobiography of Harry Hubbard, which is made up of anecdotes of his life and actions with the CIA, covert operations in Uruguay, the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Mafia in the 60s and the assassination of JFK. Kennedy (modeled on Judith Campbell Exner) and encounters with various historical figures, from Allen Dulles to Howard Hunt.The ghosts of these Indians may no longer pass through our woods, but something of their old sorrows and pleasures joins the air. Mailer cheekily provides notes at the end of the book stating that changing the names to fictional ones would cause readers to say, "That is really Howard Hunt," or, "John F Kennedy," etc. All used books might have various degrees of writing, highliting and wear and tear and possibly be an ex-library with the usual stickers and stamps.