Cop Without a Badge: The Extraordinary Undercover Life of Kevin Maher

Kipps (Out of Focus) deftly labels Maher an ``excitement junkie,'' and the aptness of that term is clear from the first paragraph of this high-speed bio. From a broken home, Maher early became addicted to fast cars, and at 17, driving a stolen car, he led police on a wild chase from the Bronx in New York City to the Catskills. For this he got a prison sentence of up to four years. After escape and re-incarceration, he had the good fortune to encounter detective Jim Doherty, who became a second father to him. He then built a career as a confidential informant for various police departments, the FBI and the DEA. His fascination with fast cars continuing, he met at a drag-racing strip the scion of one of Colombia's drug families and for several years was a serious cocaine addict whose habit wrecked his first two marriages and derailed his career as an informant. Eventually he conquered his addiction and now works for a security firm in New Jersey. From all the derring-do here emerges the portrait of a man who never grew up. First serial to Penthouse. (Feb.)