"First-person, you-are-there law-enforcement adventure saga by a
male agent who wielded guns, solved crimes and sometimes saved
lives.Botting joined the FBI in 1971 after earning advanced college
degrees, serving in Vietnam and working as an investigator for the
U.S. Treasury Department. With that background, he was well
prepared for dicey situations, but poorly prepared for the racial
tensions that simmered in Mississippi, site of Botting's first FBI
posting. "Y'all just don't understand. You're a goddamn Yankee,
boy," the Michigan-born author heard constantly that first year;
only a transfer to the Los Angeles office kept him from quitting.
(He remained with the Bureau until 1995.) Placed in the Violent
Crimes and Major Offenders unit, Botting was near the center of
action at episode after episode that made headlines. Those cases
included the pursuit of heiress Patty Hearst after her abduction by
the Symbionese Liberation Army; the standoff with Randy Weaver at
Ruby Ridge, Idaho; the murderous debacle in Waco, Texas, that
resulted in the deaths of David Koresh and many of his blindly
loyal Branch Davidian followers; plus dozens more. Occasionally,
Botting provides an education in handling the stresses of
high-stakes police work, as when he explains why it's significant
when a ransom note doesn't arrive after a confirmed kidnapping.
More frequently, he offers little education but plenty of
titillation. A conscious and careful stylist--unlike many
law-enforcement agents who become authors--Botting knows when to
inject humor, however dark, into a grim account. He doesn't provide
much documentation for his exploits, but he exudes credibility--at
least between the covers of the book.Vivid presentation of stories
so dramatic that they fully justify the old saw that truth is
stranger than fiction."--Kirkus Reviews-- (11/11/2008 12:00:00
AM)
"In my almost twenty-nine years with the FBI, Jim Botting was
clearly in the class of the best Agents I ever worked with or
around. Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk provides a unique insight into
FBI major cases and the occasional incidents of law enforcement
politics, and leaves the reader with a sense of why being an FBI
Special Agent is the best job on the planet."--Grant Ashley, former
executive assistant director, Law Enforcement Services and
Investigation, FBI-- (10/23/2008 12:00:00 AM)
"Reading Bullets, Bombs, and Fast Talk brought back many memories
from early in my own career. In the middle of one exciting case
another new agent turned to me and said, 'You know, this is so cool
that I would pay the FBI to do this!' Botting's book resounds with
this same career-long enthusiasm for the job. He tells a story that
only an FBI Special Agent could tell with sincerity and honesty,
warts and all."--Frederick J. Lanceley, former supervisory special
agent in the Special Operations and Research Unit, FBI Academy, and
author of On Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators-- (10/23/2008
12:00:00 AM)
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