Josh Hulbert

The story is great but the book…

Reviewed: 10-22-24

The underlying story here is fascinating, and the background on how Seals train and prepare is very interesting. The presentation of this book, however, is very hard to listen to.

It started out fine and actually very engaging, but before long became a cringe worthy mix of Seal glorification, trash talk against the CIA and FBI in general and their respective directors at the time of 9/11, and presenting basically everyone except the Seals as bumbling idiots- before, during and after the raid in Pakistan. I get that a book about a Seal team mission is going to be the most positive about the Seals (and that positivity is well deserved, no doubt) but this goes so far that the author’s contempt for intelligence and law enforcement is practically beating the reader over the head.

One particularly cringeworthy moment describes a group of Seals in plain clothes at the CIA cafeteria, and mentions how the Hollywood director there to discuss making a movie out of the story didn’t recognize them, but they recognized her “they don’t call them Jedi’s for nothing”. Good lord.

There is a wild tangent about 2/3 of the way through the book which I guess the author intended as context into Bin Laden’s hatred for the US, but it is lacking in detail at its best and flat wrong at its worst. It is in this portion where the author makes clear the feelings he has toward the CIA, FBI, elected officials and so on also extend to Israel- citizens, elected officials, military and intelligence.

Finally the narrator’s pronunciation is just absurd. This is far from the worst thing about this book, but it is distracting nonetheless.

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Interesting stories and anecdotes, but flawed

Reviewed: 07-27-24

I enjoyed the insights and learned some new details about stories I knew about the secret service and historical events. I don’t doubt that most or all of what the author has to say about the flaws of the secret service and its leadership are true- we’ve seen that on display with various issues reported in the media since 2010 at least. He definitely hammers home his bitterness toward the agency and its leadership - which is understandable to a point and I can tolerate- but he does get overtly political throughout the book. It doesn’t really matter to me what the author’s political leaning is, but his aggressive focus on it does distract from the story he’s trying to tell.

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Great material, iffy presentation

Reviewed: 03-04-24

I have tremendous respect for the author and the content of the book - there is a lot to be learned here and it is very interesting. However, presenting the entire book as letters back and forth among the author and a student and colleague is extremely tedious to listen to.

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Lots of great information, one issue

Reviewed: 02-27-24

This is a fantastic deep dive into narcissistic behavior and some tactics for recovery. I had multiple “ah ha” moments throughout where the behavior of certain people in my life was described exactly.
I do have one complaint which struck me fairly early in the book. Every time a pronoun is used, the author made a point of using “he or she”, or “his or her”. I’m all for being inclusive on this, and when I’m actually reading text which is written this way it’s not really an issue- it just registers as a placeholder for “one”. When listening to it however, and when the reader makes a point to articulate every part of it, it becomes extremely tedious to listen to. If this usage was something the author wanted to really make an issue of- which it appears she did- I would have much preferred a statement in the preface saying that pronouns would be alternated, that although it may technically be grammatically incorrect to use “they” in these cases, it makes it easier for the reader, or that instead of using gender pronouns the author would refer to “the victim” or “the target” etc.

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1 person found this helpful

Absolutely worth your time

Reviewed: 02-11-24

I’ve read a number of books on various events in Israel’s history which necessarily dive into great detail. All of them are fascinating and worth reading, but I’ve been looking for a book which ties them together, and I found it here.

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Wanted to like it

Reviewed: 01-29-24

Like so many people, I followed the Murdaugh trial, listened to some of the podcasts etc. I was interested in the perspective of a journalist who - to her credit- was one of the earliest to see this mess for what it was.
I was a little skeptical at the beginning of the book as it seemed to be very focused on the author, her career, her career frustrations, her relationships, and her relationship frustrations. But, some background on her for context does make sense, so I stuck with it.
Over half way through the book I was frustrated; I’d been duped! There are some insights into the cases surrounding the Murdaugh family, but they make up a chapter or two at most in total, and there isn’t anything new here.
What the book lacks in new or interesting details on the cases and trial, it makes up for in self-righteous grandstanding by the author. For instance, at the arraignment of Paul Murdaugh for the boat accident, she comments that the judge gave a “condescending” statement about the purpose of bond, and she thought about looking into the history of that judge’s application of bond to see if it was consistent in cases for people of color. Now, there are clearly plenty of cases where the justice system is lopsided on things like this, and maybe that judge is as guilty as can be of it, but speculation about that without basis is irresponsible and unprofessional and doesn’t belong in a book.
Mostly this comes off as a thin, somewhat whiny retelling of the story we all already know by someone placing herself at the center of it. Surprisingly, she manages to portray herself both as a victim of her “corporate overlords” and as a champion of people victimized by the legal system in SC.
The reading/recording is just ok- I couldn’t tell if I got more annoyed by it because I was getting more annoyed by the content, or if it was wearing on me on its own. All in all, pretty disappointing.

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Looked forward to this a long time and wasn’t disappointed!

Reviewed: 12-08-23

I’ve read all of Tim Alberta’s books and when I finished his last one I was disappointed there weren’t more! This one was on my list for a while waiting for the release and I jumped in the day it came out.

It is not an “easy” book by any means. There are a lot of names to track- people and organizations. The whole story ties together almost like an investigation, and if you aren’t paying attention to those names in detail you’ll miss how one conversation or topic links to another.

I grew up attending church regularly (though not what would be considered evangelical at all by today’s definition). There was a lot familiar here- I definitely recognized the type of people described. There are some really thought provoking questions raised here around how imperfect people can appropriately represent religion and what the role of organized religion should be in society and government. There are some examples of where it works and plenty of where it has gone wrong.

I was surprised to see some negative reviews given how fascinating I found it. It was troubling and downright disturbing at times, don’t get me wrong, but it was gripping. I would venture to say that the criticism I’ve seen so far comes from people who felt too close to what the book describes; like they had been called out themselves. It’s a shame some of these people didn’t finish the book- they need to hear it the most.

My favorite part was the discussion of two individuals working to raise funds for reform and accountability in the evangelical community and repeatedly coming up empty from evangelicals and their organizations, but finding immediate support from secular organizations and individuals. There is a lot to it, and I’d encourage you to read it for yourself. But conceptually that really sums it up; people on the inside of a rotten organization don’t want accountability, reform or transparency - either because of what it will directly show about them, or how it might tear down some idealistic view they have.

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28 people found this helpful

Remarkable story

Reviewed: 09-28-23

Having followed the Jan 6 committee hearings, read many other books covering The Trump presidency and its aftermath and regularly consuming news there weren’t many details in here which were entirely new to me. However, the perspective was striking. For someone so young to be so close to these events and to almost without exception have a much more level headed, patriotic and sane reaction to the madness going on around her is nothing short of impressive.

Some reviews complain about the early chapters being a recounting of the author’s childhood and high school years. True, these experiences are not directly part of her time with Trump or her testimony to the Jan 6 committee. However, if you absorb these details with curiosity about how they may have impacted her personality, ethics, and perspective as an adult I can’t see how you could find them irrelevant. Her childhood experiences- particularly with her dad, and even as an adult for that matter- are frankly upsetting at times. But they clearly informed the way she relates to people like Trump, Mark Meadows, and Tony Ornado among others, and this makes it all the more impressive that she did what she did.

Like all people who have spoken up against the wrongs of the Trump administration she has faced significant backlash. However, many people in much more senior, more powerful positions have done much less. Vilifying her for doing the right thing is of course on brand for Trump and his inner circle, and it is disgusting. But, Ms. Hutchinson is on the right side of history and should be proud of herself for doing the right thing. And we should be grateful for her courage to do it when so many others failed to.

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Fantastic material, excellent perspective

Reviewed: 07-13-23

There is a LOT of detail here, but it is well presented and interesting, so staying engaged is not difficult. The author’s career had him at some incredibly consequential points in history and it is truly fascinating to hear his stories.

If you get nothing else from this book you absolutely cannot miss that the author is one of the most dedicated professionals the CIA has ever had; his deep respect and care for the country, the agency and the many other professionals in the intelligence community cannot be overstated.

I have only one small complaint- and it barely qualifies. The reader was excellent for the most part but there are a few very unusual pronunciations of otherwise pretty familiar terms to anyone who has followed intelligence, and they are pretty jarring. There are several points where the author clearly intended emphasis and the reader delivered- so much so the difference in volume left my ears hurting with headphones in

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Frustrating

Reviewed: 07-01-23

I really enjoyed Ben Rhodes’ first book and expected to enjoy this one. I knew it would be a negative outlook on the Trump presidency and thought there would be some useful insights.

While he does make a few good points, much of the book comes off as in your face, holier than thou condemnation of anyone who would support anything different from Obama’s presidency. I know Mr. Rhodes made significant contributions in the national security space during the Obama presidency, but his tone through this book is much more self-aggrandizing than his prior book; this comes across as though he was VP or a cabinet official, vs Deputy National Security Advisor.

Finally, to the point other reviews have mentioned as well, the narration is unlistenable. At first I thought I was being too picky, but it gets worse as the book goes on. The author’s “voice acting” is cringe-inducing, and pronunciation of certain words and phrases is inconsistent, though often incorrect (in f you do listen, pay attention to the many ways he says “world war”).

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1 person found this helpful