Anonymous Male: A Life Among Spies

Former FBI sniper Whitcomb (Cold Zero) recounts life after the Bureau in this scattered memoir. Whitcomb resigned from the FBI in 2001 after publishing an account of his experiences at the agency. His final day on the job was September 12, and his desire to continue counterterrorism work after 9/11 led him to approach the CIA with an offer to use press credentials he had from his days as a journalist to gain access to tribal areas in Pakistan and share what he learned with the Pentagon. From there, Whitcomb delivers a discursive, often boastful account of life in the spotlight and out of it. He writes of becoming a public face of the “war on terror,” including as the co-host of a CNBC show, and of his increasing obsession with anonymity, which drove him to start a private security firm in war-torn Timor and nearly drown off the coast of Bali. His wife helped straighten him out during Covid, insisting that “people who live unusual lives have an obligation to record them.” Unfortunately, the narrative is marred by hazy through lines and abrasive prose (he writes that it’s easy to hide in Asia and Africa because they’re “giant expanses of nobody-gives-a-fuck”). In the author’s note, Whitcomb concedes that his life is “quite difficult to explain.” This rambling account won’t leave many readers feeling he’s succeeded. Agent: David Vigliano, Vigliano Assoc. (Aug.)