bibliomich 's review for:

Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator by Gary Noesner

4.0

dark informative tense fast-paced

---

After watching the television miniseries Waco (2018), I was compelled to listen to Gary Noesner's book, since it was credited as being one of the inspirations for the series. This was an incredibly fast read, and despite the heavy content, I found Noesner's writing to be quite compelling. Sometimes reading law enforcement-centric stories can make me a little uncomfortable due to the way they can glorify violence and/or authoritative power, but Noesner himself calls out this tendency for tactical units to lead with aggression, and he counters this by explaining why he thinks that preserving human life should always be a goal. He further demonstrates the ways that leading with listening and communicating has proven successful in the past in actual real-life siege situations. If you found the Waco miniseries to be interesting, I highly recommend this book to provide additional context and insights.