Facing Down Evil

Life on the Edge as an FBI Hostage Negotiator

By: Clint Van Zandt, Daniel Paisner

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

No ordinary Washington memoir, Facing Down Evil is an unprecedented look behind the scenes of our nation's most powerful law-enforcement agency. As the FBI's premier hostage negotiator, Clint Van Zandt worked or consulted on some of recent U.S. history's most unsettling and high-profile conflicts, including the Waco, Oklahoma City, and Unabomber cases.

©2006 Clint Van Zandt and Daniel Paisner (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[A] gripping memoir....The writing...is crisp and fast-paced, and Van Zandt's revelations about hostage negotiation tactics and actual encounters are fascinating." (Booklist)

Essential listening for the aspiring Negotiator

As a hostage negotiator myself, I find this book to be essential for anyone who is aspiring to be a hostage negotiator. The history and facts contained in this book help explain a lot of the evolution of crisis negotiations by reviewing specific landmark events which changed the way we do business.

Watered down.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The stories were interesting but I felt Van Zandt was holding back the most interesting cases for the next volume. Would have better as an unabridged version.

Was Facing Down Evil worth the listening time?

Not in my opinion.

Any additional comments?

I was glad to have heard the stories he offered but felt disappointed afterward.

I like this guy!

You'll like and respect the guy as he leads you on a journey through the history of HRT and it's predecessors as he was there trough it all. And the guy is a great father and Christian to boot. This is the kind of guy who you know would be happy to shake your hand and invite you to church. But, man has he been through it. Well written and narrated. If you buy it you will enjoy it.

Intriguing ! Loved it !

Narration is wonderful - lots of insight into an interesting field of work- story was at times heartfelt, funny , informative and just plain captivating !

An Enjoyable "Listen"

The pleasure of so many audiobooks comes down to the combination of a good yarn and good narrating, This book is a good story; he provides an interesting biographical sketch and focuses in on the key cases in which he was involved, but not so much that they become boring; and the narration makes it very interesting to listen to.

The author spends the last chapter or so offering his views on the Waco incident, and then more time is spent offering views on the state of current policing and negotiating. Fortunately this is at the end of the book so if you're not interested it can be easily skipped, without making you think that you're not getting your money's worth.

All told, it was enjoyable and easy to listen to.

Quite interesting

Some very interesting stories and not typical leftist FBI-speak... more old school G-man, yanno before the FBI got corrupted

Window into the FBI Hostage Negotiator's World

This is a great audiobook. It provides a window in to the world of the FBI hostage negotiator. The book takes you into the front lines of high profile, potentially and actually violent confrontations between criminals and the FBI. If you have an interest in the FBI, hostage rescue operations, SWAT teams, negotiating in high stakes, or just the psychology of hostage taking criminals, this is a must read/listen. Highly recommended.

Very Interesting Storyline!

This was different than I expected but I enjoyed the book very much. I enjoyed the details on how Van Zandt got hs start and worked his way up through the ranks to a hostage negotiator. You'll enjoy the stories!

Van Zandt’s Thoughts and Feelings

I think the book is better characterized as a memoir of Van Zandt’s thoughts and feeling surrounding hostage negotiation situations rather than a more factual account of these situations. I preferred “Stalling for Time” over this book. Van Zandt weaves his faith into the book significantly which may seem a little heavy handed for some. As for FBI negotiation techniques I’d recommend “Don’t Split the Difference.

Different

Not what I expected. The author continues to inject his faith into the narrative and I found that off-putting. In most cases it was not relevent (excluding Waco). It is very odd how he ONLY talkes about his family in context of his faith - he never says anything about his kids execpt for how important thier "chruch school" is to HIM. I found that very distrubing.