****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Kick back, sit yourself down, and as you lift the book, imagine yourself lifting it further, as if to fit a mask onto your face so you can peer directly through the eyes of Charles Flaco, as he tells his story about infiltrating biker gangs from the perspective of undercover informants, law enforcement agents, and their supervisors.The book is written like a type first person suspense novel that wants to you at the edge of your seat, drawn into the mind of Falco, as he continuously tries to rationalize the events, fears, tensions and violence that pervade the atmosphere of the undercover work he describes. I have not read allot of non-fiction books written this way, though I read allot of non-fiction books. Some reviewers have put more focus on issues they perceive in the writing itself than I will because I see a great informational value in the book about the worlds of both informants and bikers. Especially if you are new to these subjects.That is the reason I gave the book 5 stars, because the book is very effective - at times - at placing the reader 'in the room' or 'at a place,' whose atmosphere is heavy with gang tensions, that can suddenly erupt into bone-crushing, body-piercing violence. And, how that might morph directly into blood splattered merciless carnage...unpredictable as to how or when it will end. I was 'drawn into' the world Flaco inhabited many times throughout the book. A good example of this is the period Falco spends in prison, as part of his undercover work. I felt myself spending that time in that prison. [ Yes, I took the mask off for awhile to take a breather..lol ] At the same time however, those chapters are very informative about the hierarchical structure of prison life.The book is structured in a way that seems to fluctuate between two modes of chronicling events. [1] Flaco "thinking about" practical matters, meetings, backgrounds of people and situations which then [2] build up to vividly described, dangerous and violent action sequences until those resolve...before building back up. In this way the reader gets allot of background & explanation about the lifestyle of bikers, protocols within their clubs as well as how law enforcement handles things.At book's end, I came away with a good sense of what the cases he pursued were about as well as a much better understanding of the biker world, it's overall structure, member initiation, ranking, patching and affiliations procedures and protocols.I want to note that I also read reviews that angrily refute Flaco's accounts of some of the persons and incidents he describes, including the 'justice driven,' highly ethical nature of Flaco's reasoning for going undercover. Or, at least, continuing to work undercover, his initial reason was not wanting to serve 26 years in prison for selling drugs. I don't know this man. Nor do I know anyone involved in any of it. Personally, I give all parties involved their due. This review is not about the cases or the people involved in cases Flaco worked on. The world of gangs and informants is a complex one, to be sure.What I want to share about the book, is that I found it to be an entertaining way to get allot of basic information about the subjects of gangs, informants and law enforcement..
