4 stars.

The cover information for the book is a bit misleading in that this covers the highlights of Payne’s career to date, not just his time infiltrating a neo-Nazi group; that part is less than half the book and while it is very interesting, I enjoyed his time spent with the Outlaws biker club just as much.

As to the neo-Nazis, the group was called The Base and he was with their Georgia outlet. They are “accelerationists” which means they don’t believe in a political solution to any of their complaints because the political system/system of government is corrupt. Society will collapse either on its own or due to a man made event so they should attempt to speed up that chaos. The Base specifically thinks that after sparking a race war they will then be involved with creating a white ethnostate. How they are going to do that with so few members is beyond me….maybe they have a great, super-secret recruiting plan or something. However, this appears to be the new thing…according to the book in 2021 90% of white nationalist groups are accelerationists.

I found the book both interesting and entertaining. Payne is not some golden boy plucked from the Ivy League and recruited to the FBI…he worked as a regular cop before he got interested. I think lots of guys who don’t always love to read might like this book.

fascinating look at the life of a brave undercover agent who worked to stop groups of neo-nazi extremists. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I have always found the idea of being an undercover agent fascinating. In this book, Payne provides a fascinating look at the life of an undercover agent and the evolution it will be taking on. Overall, the book was well written and enjoyable memoir to read about a job that is fascinating to me.

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A fascinating true story. I really enjoyed the pacing and how the chapters were divided. Each chapter focused on a different time in his career leading up to some of the biggest moments of his undercover career. I found myself fully engrossed in this book despite the content being harrowing and eye opening. I’ll be recommending this one for years to come.