Review Detail

I Am a Secret Service Agent: My Life Spent Protecting the President

Middle Grade Non-Fiction 406

Twenty years of protecting presidents

August 27, 2017 (Updated: June 26, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Learning Value

4.0

Emmett was a young, impressionable boy growing up in the South when President Kennedy was assassinated. The event made such an impression on him that he enlisted in Marine Corps, served his time there, and then made a concerted effort to break into the ranks of the secret service. He eventually was hired, and made his way up to working at the white house. He worked for presidents from Ronald Reagan and was personally in charge of the safety of Bill and Hillary Clinton before he joined the CIA in 2004.

Good Points

Filled with eye witness accounts of treacherous situations and covert operations, I am a Secret Service Agent also has lots of helpful tips for aspiring agents, from what education and background is important, to what sort of temperament one should have. Young readers will be able to put themselves into young Emmett's shoes, and thrill to behind-the-scenes opportunities like entering President Kennedy's former house at the invitation of his brother Ted or protecting the president in the storm ravaged, dangerous streets of Haiti.

There are lots of details about weapons, strategies, and a huge variety of trips taken with the presidents to exotic locations, all while on high alert for any and all threats to the president.

Readers who like nonfiction books detailing what life is like in the secret service, such as Butts' Bodyguards: From Gladiators to the Secret Service and Janeczko's Double Cross will love reading this memoir with their sunglasses on and one eye watching the door!