
Ranger Games
A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime
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Narrated by:
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Johnathan McClain
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By:
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Ben Blum
About this listen
Intricate, heartrending, and morally urgent, Ranger Games is a crime story like no other.
Alex Blum was a good kid, a popular high school hockey star from a tight-knit Colorado family. He had one goal in life: endure a brutally difficult selection program, become a US Army Ranger, and fight terrorists for his country. He poured everything into achieving his dream. In the first hours of his final leave before deployment to Iraq, Alex was supposed to fly home to see his family and beloved girlfriend. Instead, he got into his car with two fellow soldiers and two strangers, drove to a local bank in Tacoma, and committed armed robbery....
The question that haunted the entire Blum family was: Why? Why would he ruin his life in such a spectacularly foolish way?
At first, Alex insisted he thought the robbery was just another exercise in the famously daunting Ranger program. His attorney presented a case based on the theory that the Ranger indoctrination mirrored that of a cult.
In the midst of his own personal crisis, and in the hopes of helping both Alex and his splintering family cope, Ben Blum, Alex's first cousin, delved into these mysteries, growing closer to Alex in the process. As he probed further, Ben began to question not only Alex but the influence of his superior, Luke Elliot Sommer, the man who planned the robbery. A charismatic combat veteran, Sommer's manipulative tendencies combined with a magnetic personality pulled Ben into a relationship that put his loyalties to the test.
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Critic reviews
The voice actor was great, for the most part. He shouted too much; yes, the text was emotional, but that doesn't have to mean yelling. Loved his range of accents and tones.
Real Life Crime Drama
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Accurate depiction of RIP and life at Battalion
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the performance was great. this is one of my favorite audible books. I completed the 16 hour book in about a week.
nonfiction drama with many twists and turns
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Whining and Lying Former Ranger
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what a story!
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girl games wow
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I just wish the author would have stuck more to the circumstances surrounding the crime and characters surrounding the actors involved than needlessly inserting himself into the narrative much more than necessary.
Author inserts his political opinion in two quick blurbs that have nothing to do with anything other than TDS.
Less of a crime drama more of a family drama
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The story is an interesting, sad & crazy tale but there are times you can see that he (the writer) has his own issues to work out, not just his cousins, what his cousin did or his families take on the world.
If you have an affiliation or interest in/with growing up in Colorado, playing on hockey teams while growing up or the military, then I think you’ll enjoy this book. If I had to pay full price for this audiobook an not had a credit to use, I would not of been very happy, but because I had available credits and I was looking for something new and different, this hit the mark..... mostly.
Good book but a bit hard to get through
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You'll think it's over long before it is
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Tried to get political at times and was not needed.
Narrator did a great job.
The first half of the book was best. The second half seemed to be a search for how to end the book.
Entertaining
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