The Last Undercover: The True Story of an FBI Agent’s Dangerous Dance with Evil

Bob Hamer
Center Street (2008)
ISBN 9781599951010
Reviewed by Dr. Michael Philliber for Reader Views (11/08)

 

Undercover Law Enforcement has a mystique around it that may repulse some, but magnetizes many. In “The Last Undercover,” a new 351-page adult paperback, Bob Hamer rehearses many of his own undercover operations as a 26-year veteran FBI Agent. Yet these cases are grouped around the one major undercover operation that Hamer was most affected by, his investigation of members of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a society of men who professed their sexual attraction toward young boys.

Hamer, a Marine Corps veteran, who upon his honorable discharge entered the FBI ranks, was quickly positioned as an undercover agent. His investigations placed him in a number of criminal scenarios, from a marathon-running jewel thief, to a restaurant-owning drug seller, to Vietnamese drug traffickers, to targeting Chinese, Russian, and Iraqi organized crime figures.  But all of these undercover actions are portrayed in “The Last Undercover” as background for Hamer’s last undercover operation which took the greater part of four years: infiltrating NAMBLA to build a solid case against eight members of the “inner circle” on conspiring to travel to engage in illicit sexual acts with a minor. Therefore, most of the chapters gravitate in this direction as the meta-narrative which shapes the book.

Though “The Last Undercover” is primarily about the investigation of several homosexual pedophiles, there is care to avoid any lumping of the homosexual community into the pedophile category. In fact Hamer is at great pains to show, historically, that the homosexual community distanced itself from such groups and acts.

“The Last Undercover” is full of adventure, criminal humor, touching scenes, and alarming admission. The reader will find herself cheering Hamer on to a successful conclusion, appreciating the work this retired FBI agent did to make the streets of America a safer place. And the reader will also be better informed about what groups like NAMBLA are about.

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