Of all the resources available to law enforcement, the living, breathing undercover operative remains the gold standard. This is true in TV shows and in the real world. In the era of electronic surveillance, undercover work enforces accountability; it prevents mistakes, and of all the men and women in any type of police work, the undercover agents are often the most valuable. In his dramatic debut book, THE PRETENDER: My Life Undercover for the FBI (Thomas Dunne Books, on sale June 6, 2017, $26.99), Marc Ruskin reflects back on his incredible 27-year career with the Bureau, rendering a first-hand account of one fascinating case after another.

The FBI has roughly 100 agents working full time undercover in some capacity. Between 1990-2010, Marc Ruskin had the most diverse and notorious case list of all the agents involved. Within the bureau he had the broadest experience, including overseas, including:

•La Cosa Nostra

•Corporate fraud

•Counterfeiting schemes

•Narcotics trafficking

•Wall Street scams

•Public corruption

The most amazing aspect of his undercover work is Ruskin’s ability to juggle three or four cases – simultaneously – switching identities on a daily basis. Each morning he had to walk out the door with the correct ID, the correct clothing costume, the correct accessories and the correct frame of mind for that day’s mission. The dangers in this kind of life were extraordinary.

Ruskin delves in to how the right undercover agent is selected for each assignment, how a fake identity is manufactured and “backstopped,” and how a long-term “con” is painstakingly assembled. Until THE PRETENDER, no one has ever taken the reader this deep undercover. This is the definitive narrative of undercover operatives – the procedures, the successes, the failures and the changes in the culture of the new FBI.