|
Eight Lives Down | 
| Author: Chris Hunter
Publisher: Bantam Press
Category: Book
Buy Used: $18.79
Used (4) from $18.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 931233
Format: Import
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0593058607
EAN: 9780593058602
ASIN: 0593058607
Publication Date: November 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Visceral and compelling, Eight Lives Down is the most exciting and nerve-jangling work of military non-fiction since Bravo Two Zero.
If fate is against me and I’m killed, so be it, but make it quick and painless. If I’m wounded, don’t let me be crippled. But above all, don’t let me fuck up the task.
So goes the bomb technician’s prayer before every bomb he defuses. For Chris Hunter, it is a prayer he says many times during his four-month tour of Iraq. His is the most dangerous job in the world — to make safe the British sector in Iraq against some of the most hardened and technically advanced terrorists in the world. It is a 24/7 job — in the first two months alone, his team defuses over 45 bombs. And the people they’re up against don’t play by the Geneva Convention. For them, there are no rules, only results — death by any means necessary.
The job of a Bomb Disposal officer is a lonely one. You are alone with the sound of your own breathing and the drumming of your heart in a protective suit in forty-plus degrees of heat. The drawbridge has been pulled up behind you as you advance on your goal. It’s just you and the bomb.
But for Chris Hunter, just when life couldn’t get any more dangerous, the stakes are raised again.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Edge of your seat "you are there" action October 11, 2008
Eight Lives Down is a riveting, edge-of-your-seat first person account of a British Bomb Disposal Officer in Iraq in 2004. I originally thought this tale would be about the deaths of 8 of his men, but halfway through I realized instead what reference he was using.
EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and Captain (at the time) Hunter's specialty was IED Disposal, the Improvised Explosive Device, that has become such a hallmark of the war in Iraq. Primarily set off by something so simple as the average car remote for unlocking your door, Hunter gives you the "you are there" perspective as he recovers these devices or scans the debris for clues to the manufacturer if it's already gone off.
Then there are the secondary explosives set to kill the people like him who respond to bomb attacks, plus snipers and ambushes along the road to the scene. A true hero in this world, he and his men put themselves in harm's way to protect people they don't even know.
A must-read book for everyone, plus it gives us Yanks some insight into common British phraseology. :)
A white-knuckled blast! October 2, 2008
Chris Hunter must have trouble finding affordable life insurance.
The job in question that he portrays in this book is that of a British Army specialist whose forte is disarming IED's - improvised explosive devices in Iraq. His tale - remarkably well written - is a gripping account of the job. You feel you are there, wearing 70 lbs. of body armor, sweating in triple-digit heat and loaded with another 80 lbs. of gear.
Tom Clancy couldn't write anything more absorbing. An undercurrent theme of "Eight Lives Down" is the huge emotional and marital toll that the job takes on Hunter and his unraveling relationship with his wife, Lucy. There are observations on the Yanks in Iraq, the nature of the Iraqi people, the job of winning hearts and minds and some touching vignettes of tenderness among ragamuffin street urchins.
"Eight Lives Down" is one of those books that you may find hard to put down!
 Too Much Testosterone... September 9, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
A compelling story but way too much macho commentary. The author's narration is like a teenager playing a video game ("take that you evil terrorist!") I'm not expecting 'sensitive' comments from a warrior who puts up with incredible odds, but the descriptions in this book make one believe that Rambo spent a fair amount of time in Iraq. There's even a point where he describes the insurgents as being those who kill just because they like to.
Way too much....
Fantastic and Engrossing August 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wow, I simply could not put this book down.
Chris pulls you in quickly and doesn't let you escape the world of an explosives expert in the land of improvised explosives. From the tension to deactivating a bomb while trying to ignore the reality this bomb was planted so the bad guys could snipe Chris, to the despair over fallen comrades and the impact to his marriage.
Not just an incredible story, but well written with humour and sadness. I hope Chris continues to write, as I'll buy anything he produces.
 I cannot imagine. August 21, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Too many emotions to even catalog in reading this book. What leads people to do this? What people plant bombs? What has happened to the sanity in this world? Who would pick this assignment?
Yes, I was a volunteer firefighter, but this pales to the horror that these men seek out. It is beyond my comprehension at the self- sacrifice and the damned determination of these men. It is the headlong rush into danger, disregarding all instincts of survival. As various nations wave their bloody banners of nationalism or fanaticism, these operatives are unknown and working day and night so that we may slumber comfortably in our homes ignorant of what goes on around us.
We may have to take stock of our values and actions causing the necessity of having such troops.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
