Murder for Hire: My Life As the Country's Most Successful Undercover Agent [Hardcover]

Jack Ballentine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2009

Jack Ballentine became a Phoenix police officer in 1978 and quickly rose to the top as one of the world’s most successful undercover operatives. His specialty: posing as an undercover hit man. None of the people who hired him had any inkling that he was actually a cop, and his work led to a perfect rate of twenty-four convictions out of twenty-four indictments on murder conspiracy charges.

Murder for Hire is Ballentine’s story. He worked with criminals of all sorts, from vengeful spouses and partners to the criminally insane, all who had one thing in common: the desire to have someone killed. Ballentine could change his character at the drop of a hat, often imitating characters and “bad guys” from television and movies. In assuming an alternate identity and developing a reputation among the Phoenix underground---bikers, strippers, junkies, and thugs---he developed an intricate network of sources who fed him work and kept him extremely busy.

All the while, the author strove for the semblance of a normal life and balanced his rough-and-tumble career with a new wife and stepson. His story is a unique look at how law enforcement delves into the heart of the criminal world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Jack Ballentine is a force to be reckoned with. Murder for Hire delves into the seedy netherworld of murder for hire, close scrapes, and life under cover. A fascinating read.”—Kerrie Droban, author of Running with the Devil: The True Story of the ATF’s Inflitration of the Hells Angels

“He effectively captures the violence and degradation of underclass criminality, where the lives of drug dealers, bikers, white supremacists, prostitutes, strippers and career criminals intersect.”—Kirkus Reviews

 

About the Author

Jack Ballentine became a Phoenix police officer in 1978 and quickly rose to the top as one of the world’s most successful undercover operatives. He also served as a homicide detective for the Phoenix Police Department. He is a three-time Police Officer of the Year, and has been awarded both the International Investigator of the Year and the Medal of Merit. He currently serves as the Director of Investigations for the Phoenix Fire Department. He lives in Mesa, Arizona, with his wife.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (June 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312384521
• ISBN-13: 978-0312384524
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,032,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "1 MINUTE I'M PLAYING BASEBALL W THE BOYS, & THE NEXT MINUTE I'M MAKING A DEAL TO KILL SOMEONE!", June 12, 2009

By 

Rick Shaq Goldstein "*SHAQ*" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Murder for Hire: My Life As the Country's Most Successful Undercover Agent (Hardcover)

During Jack Ballentine's prime as an undercover operative for the Phoenix Police Department he stood six-foot-five inches tall... weighed two-hundred-eighty-five pounds... had hair down to his butt... and could bench press four-hundred-five pounds. His specialty was posing as a professional hit man. Jack had to take on many different persona's during his over fifteen-year "hit man" career... and they ranged from biker-gang warlord... to Mafia hit man.... to soldier of fortune... to disgruntled Vietnam vet... to Aryan Brotherhood prison convict... to dying restaurant owner... to transient... and even a construction worker just out of prison. The author shares his entire career with you as it becomes overly apparent what the two biggest problems he faced daily were. The first problem is the most obvious... the fear of being "outed" as a cop while in the midst of a life and death situation with an individual who has decided that their life has spiraled into such a no-win situation... that they're willing to pay an almost unknown individual to kill another human being. The second problem was purely personal. Personal for Jack and the family that he eventually became a part of... and that was that Jack would have gotten so deep into whatever lowlife character he was becoming... for such long periods of time... he found it harder and harder... to not only shed the "skin" of his current hit man guise... but at times he couldn't differentiate which character he really was supposed to be.

Jack would hang out at dingy strip bars... hang out at crack houses... associate with child molesters... drug dealers... bikers... and even a "man" who "WANTED TO TORTURE AND KILL BOYS AND MEN FOR HIS SADISTIC PLEASURE AND TASTE THEIR BODY PARTS." There were many lines that Jack wasn't allowed to cross... even when he'd feel sorry for abused women and children. He would always have to make an effort to give each one of these criminals an opportunity to back out of the paid murder... so if the case went to court they couldn't say they were intimidated by Jack... so they were afraid to back out of the contract "hit". There were certain instances... that if the overall objective by these people that hired Jack... wasn't so serious... after all... they're paying him to murder someone... would be almost funny. One such case was the woman who was a Sunday School teacher who paid Jack to murder her husband. When Jack gave her an opportunity to rescind the "hit" by suggesting she simply get a divorce... she said the Church wouldn't approve of a divorce.

As Jack would prepare himself for each of his undercover hit man characters... he would normally pattern himself after a character he saw in the movies or on TV because he believed that... "PEOPLE WATCH TELEVISION AND BELIEVE EVERY THING THEY SEE ON TV. THEY GO TO THE MOVIES AND ALSO BELIEVE THOSE TO BE TRUE. HOW THE DIRECTORS DEVELOP A CHARACTER IS HOW THE PUBLIC BELIEVES THAT PERSON SHOULD ACT IN REAL LIFE. THAT'S WHY I ALWAYS WATCH TELEVISION AND DEVELOP MY CHARACTER FROM THE EYE OF THE DIRECTOR."

This is an interesting story and even though there are a number of typo's and the author repeats himself once in awhile... it will keep your interest all the way through.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder For Hire, June 24, 2009

By 

Ramsey Remarcik Beckstead - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder for Hire: My Life As the Country's Most Successful Undercover Agent (Hardcover)

Incredible book, incredible man. Well written and takes you into the life Jack lived, as if you were a part of his undercover team. The principles Jack lived by should be everyone's goal in life. Well done Jack!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to put down, June 23, 2009

By 

K. Carey "K. Carey" (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Murder for Hire: My Life As the Country's Most Successful Undercover Agent (Hardcover)

I have been looking forward to the release of this book for 7 months. I had a hard time putting it down. Because life is so busy and this book is so good, I actually took a vacation day to finish it! My daughter was able to swim while I lay by the pool reading about the grungy undercover work of a hitman.

I loved the balance of grittiness with the underlying love story. Something for everyone.