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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Interesting stories from the career of the FBI’s lead hostage negotiator. B
Found this an excellent read after watching the series Waco. He’s definitely an FBI man through and through, so you have to take his words with that bias in mind, however I found the majority of his views and stories fair. Riveting to hear all his experiences, read it very quickly.
Very detailed and interesting! Lots of compelling stories. I picked it up to read mostly about the Waco incident - but got a lot more out of it. Overall I really enjoyed his insight! Some parts were dry and not all chapters equally interesting. 4/5.
Inside look at FBI hostage negotiations from the man who was first to run the bureau’s Crisis Negotiation Unit. Besides learning about specific hostage situations, he gives a very thoughtful analysis of why working for a peaceful resolution through talking and other strategies works better than relying on brute force alone. He uses his centerpiece story, what went wrong in the Waco disaster, to make his point, and I think does so very effectively.
dark
informative
fast-paced
The Pluses: Personal recollection of various hostage situations, some insight into negotiation techniques.
The Minuses: Tone gets dry and sections get plodding on occasion, avoids openly criticizing some parties that deserve it.
The Bottom Line: A reasonably interesting read with an uncommon vantage in true crime.
I think there is some irony in the man on the cover pointing a gun at me when the book advocates a non-tactical approach to dealing with criminals!
The Minuses: Tone gets dry and sections get plodding on occasion, avoids openly criticizing some parties that deserve it.
The Bottom Line: A reasonably interesting read with an uncommon vantage in true crime.
I think there is some irony in the man on the cover pointing a gun at me when the book advocates a non-tactical approach to dealing with criminals!
informative
reflective
medium-paced
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
This was really interesting!
So, I picked this up after watching the Waco miniseries on Netflix. Apparently, the miniseries used two memoirs for most of its groundwork - one is [b:A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story|208644|A Place Called Waco A Survivor's Story|David Thibodeau|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387749599l/208644._SX50_.jpg|201954] which I had already read and largely hated (mostly because the author was still brain-washed and an apologist for Koresh's child rape and abuse). But the other memoir credited in the miniseries was this one and I was really curious about it, since the show was so obviously skewed to make Noesner the hero.
Turns out that's definitely a leftover from this book, because Noesner is definitely the hero of this story. The thesis is basically that hostage negotiators are underfunded, under-utilized, and often over-looked by the trigger-happy SWAT teams and that usually the visual threat of violence is enough to solve a siege situation when you apply enough diplomacy and patience. As someone who values de-escalation and alternatives to violence and force, I could buy into the premise pretty easily. I like the idea of talking people into peace instead of shooting them. Sounds promising. I wish cops took that approach.
The book is basically the author proving the value of his curriculum and his department over a series of examples from hostage situations and sieges from his career and I think those examples are really the best part of the book. The stories are just so interesting. I already knew quite a bit about Waco and Ruby Ridge, but I loved learning more about the prison riots and all the far-right extremists. It was well-written and interesting and I loved how Noesner was careful to explain the reasoning behind his decisions.
But yeah, it was still federal copaganda, like, without a doubt and the author refused to ever, ever, ever frame the FBI as anything, but helpful superheroes (unless the meatheads with guns got impatient with his special negotiation curriculum), which was a little bit eye-roll-y. But the author is a lifelong FBI guy who wanted to be an agent since he was a kid, so I wouldn't have expected any different. Down a star for the uncritical copaganda, but it was still super interesting and I really enjoyed it.
So, I picked this up after watching the Waco miniseries on Netflix. Apparently, the miniseries used two memoirs for most of its groundwork - one is [b:A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story|208644|A Place Called Waco A Survivor's Story|David Thibodeau|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387749599l/208644._SX50_.jpg|201954] which I had already read and largely hated (mostly because the author was still brain-washed and an apologist for Koresh's child rape and abuse). But the other memoir credited in the miniseries was this one and I was really curious about it, since the show was so obviously skewed to make Noesner the hero.
Turns out that's definitely a leftover from this book, because Noesner is definitely the hero of this story. The thesis is basically that hostage negotiators are underfunded, under-utilized, and often over-looked by the trigger-happy SWAT teams and that usually the visual threat of violence is enough to solve a siege situation when you apply enough diplomacy and patience. As someone who values de-escalation and alternatives to violence and force, I could buy into the premise pretty easily. I like the idea of talking people into peace instead of shooting them. Sounds promising. I wish cops took that approach.
The book is basically the author proving the value of his curriculum and his department over a series of examples from hostage situations and sieges from his career and I think those examples are really the best part of the book. The stories are just so interesting. I already knew quite a bit about Waco and Ruby Ridge, but I loved learning more about the prison riots and all the far-right extremists. It was well-written and interesting and I loved how Noesner was careful to explain the reasoning behind his decisions.
But yeah, it was still federal copaganda, like, without a doubt and the author refused to ever, ever, ever frame the FBI as anything, but helpful superheroes (unless the meatheads with guns got impatient with his special negotiation curriculum), which was a little bit eye-roll-y. But the author is a lifelong FBI guy who wanted to be an agent since he was a kid, so I wouldn't have expected any different. Down a star for the uncritical copaganda, but it was still super interesting and I really enjoyed it.