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Surprise, Kill, Vanish
- The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 5 mins
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Area 51
- An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere s75 miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the US government - but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades. Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to 19 men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to 55 additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, 32 of whom lived and worked there for extended periods.
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best audio book I've ever listened too!
- By Riley on 2020-04-06
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain".
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another great listen from Annie Jacobson
- By TyCB on 2020-07-21
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
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don't trust the government
- By Pickz on 2022-09-13
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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First Platoon
- A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the US Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world.
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Very interesting.
- By Christa on 2021-04-16
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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Phenomena
- The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
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phenomenal writing
- By TyCB on 2019-10-16
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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Hunting the Jackal
- A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism
- Written by: Billy Waugh, Tim Keown
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than half a century, Special Forces and CIA legend Billy Waugh dedicated his life to tracking down and eliminating America's most virulent enemies. Operating from the darkest shadows and most desolate corners of the world, he made his mark in many of the most important operations in the annals of US Spec Ops. He spent seven and a half years behind enemy lines in Vietnam as a member of a covert group of elite commandos.
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An interesting life
- By SD on 2021-11-13
Written by: Billy Waugh, and others
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Area 51
- An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere s75 miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the US government - but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades. Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to 19 men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to 55 additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, 32 of whom lived and worked there for extended periods.
-
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best audio book I've ever listened too!
- By Riley on 2020-04-06
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
-
The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain".
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another great listen from Annie Jacobson
- By TyCB on 2020-07-21
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
-
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don't trust the government
- By Pickz on 2022-09-13
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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First Platoon
- A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the US Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world.
-
-
Very interesting.
- By Christa on 2021-04-16
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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Phenomena
- The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
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phenomenal writing
- By TyCB on 2019-10-16
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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Hunting the Jackal
- A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism
- Written by: Billy Waugh, Tim Keown
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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For more than half a century, Special Forces and CIA legend Billy Waugh dedicated his life to tracking down and eliminating America's most virulent enemies. Operating from the darkest shadows and most desolate corners of the world, he made his mark in many of the most important operations in the annals of US Spec Ops. He spent seven and a half years behind enemy lines in Vietnam as a member of a covert group of elite commandos.
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An interesting life
- By SD on 2021-11-13
Written by: Billy Waugh, and others
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Area 51
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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It is the most famous military installation in the world. And no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside of it. Until now. This is the first book based on interviews with scientists, pilots, and engineers - 58 in total - who provide an unprecedented look into the mysterious activities of a top-secret base, from the Cold War to today. With a jaw-dropping ending, it proves that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.
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Amazing knowledge about The air force and c.i.a..
- By john on 2020-04-26
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
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Gray Work
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- Narrated by: Jeff Gurner
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
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In this unprecedented audiobook, a paramilitary contractor with more than two decades of experience gives us a firsthand look into the secret lives of America's private warriors and their highly covert work around the world. Author Jamie Smith has planned and executed hundreds of missions on behalf of government agencies and private industry in some of the world's most dangerous hot spots - and lived to tell the tale.
Written by: Jamie Smith
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The CIA as Organized Crime
- How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World
- Written by: Douglas Valentine
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
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The author of three books on CIA operations, Douglas Valentine began his research into the agency's activities when CIA director William Colby gave him free access to interview agency officials who had been involved in various aspects of the Phoenix program in South Vietnam. It was a permission Colby was to regret. The CIA would eventually rescind it and made every effort to impede publication of The Phoenix Program, which documented an elaborate system of population surveillance, control, entrapment, imprisonment, torture, and assassination in Vietnam.
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Interesting but flawed
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-03-11
Written by: Douglas Valentine
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The Operator
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Stirringly evocative, thought provoking, and often jaw dropping, The Operator ranges across SEAL Team Operator Robert O'Neill's awe-inspiring 400-mission career that included his involvement in attempts to rescue "Lone Survivor" Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips and culminated in those famous three shots that dispatched the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden.
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Amazing... but
- By James on 2021-05-15
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The Modern Mercenary
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It was 2004, and Sean McFate had a mission in Burundi: to keep the president alive and prevent the country from spiraling into genocide without anyone knowing that the United States was involved. The United States was, of course, involved, but only through McFate's employer, the military contractor DynCorp International. Throughout the world similar scenarios are playing out daily. The United States can no longer go to war without contractors.
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Very interesting book on a timely subject
- By Eugene Epshteyn on 2019-10-12
Written by: Sean McFate
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Gangster Warlords
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- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
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In a ranch south of Texas, the man known as The Executioner dumps 500 body parts in metal barrels. In Brazil's biggest city, a mysterious prisoner orders hit men to gun down 41 police officers and prison guards in two days. In Southern Mexico a meth maker is venerated as a saint while enforcing Old Testament justice on his enemies. A new kind of criminal kingpin has arisen: part CEO, part terrorist, and part rock star, unleashing guerrilla attacks, strong-arming governments, and taking over much of the world's trade in narcotics, guns, and humans.
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Very good listening
- By Anonymous User on 2022-12-23
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Black Ops
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- Written by: Ric Prado
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
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Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the CIA equivalent of a two-star general. Black Ops is the story of Ric’s legendary career that spanned two eras, the Cold War and the Age of Terrorism.
Written by: Ric Prado
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Whispers in the Tall Grass
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- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
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On his second combat tour, Nick Brokhausen served in Recon Team Habu, CCN. This unit was part of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group), or Studies and Observations Group as it was innocuously called. The small recon companies that were the center of its activities conducted some of the most dangerous missions of the war, infiltrating areas controlled by the North Vietnamese in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The companies never exceeded more than 30 Americans, yet they were the best source for the enemy's disposition.
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This book is just as good as the first one!
- By Dylan on 2022-01-18
Written by: Nick Brokhausen
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Ghost
- My Thirty Years as an FBI Undercover Agent
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Within FBI field operative circles, groups of people known as “Special” by their titles alone, Michael R. McGowan is an outlier. Over the course of his career, McGowan has worked more than 50 undercover cases. In this extraordinary and unprecedented book, McGowan will take listeners through some of his biggest cases, from international drug busts to the Russian and Italian mobs to biker gangs and contract killers to corrupt unions and SWAT work. Ghost is an unparalleled view into how the FBI, through the courage of its undercover Special Agents, nails the bad guys.
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bravo
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Code over Country
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Investigative journalist Matthew Cole tells the story of the most lauded unit, SEAL Team 6, revealing a troubling pattern of war crimes and the deep moral rot beneath authorized narratives. From their origins in World War II, the SEALs have trained to be specialized killers with short missions. As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan became the endless War on Terror, their violence spiraled out of control. Code Over Country details the high-level decisions that unleashed the SEALs’ carnage and the coverups that prevented their crimes from coming to light.
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People are Human.
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SOG
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- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
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John Plaster’s riveting account of his covert activities as a member of a special operations team during the Vietnam War is “a true insider’s account...this eye-opening report will leave readers feeling as if they’ve been given a hot scoop on a highly classified project” (Publishers Weekly). Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most secret elite US military unit to serve in the Vietnam War - so secret that its very existence was denied by the government.
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Fascinating
- By GL5 on 2020-06-27
Written by: John L. Plaster
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Chaos
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Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order. Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents.
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Fascinating and Compelling Listen
- By Andrew P Bird on 2020-05-15
Written by: Tom O'Neill, and others
Publisher's Summary
Surprise...your target. Kill...your enemy. Vanish...without a trace.
From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units.
When diplomacy fails and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special Activities Division, a highly classified branch of the CIA and the most effective black-operations force in the world. Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, SAD conducts risky and ruthless operations that have evolved over time to defend America from its enemies. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion, and yes, assassination.
With unprecedented access to 42 men and women who proudly and secretly worked on CIA covert operations from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, along with declassified documents and deep historical research, Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen unveils - like never before - a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs. Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine.
Written with the pacing of a thriller, Surprise, Kill, Vanish brings to vivid life the sheer pandemonium and chaos, as well as the unforgettable human will to survive and the intellectual challenge of not giving up hope that define paramilitary and intelligence work. Jacobsen's exclusive interviews - with members of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (equivalent to the Pentagon's generals), its counterterrorism chiefs, targeting officers, and Special Activities Division's Ground Branch operators who conduct today's close-quarters killing operations around the world - reveal, for the first time, the enormity of this shocking, controversial, and morally complex terrain. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength or a liability to its principled standing in the world?
Every operation reported in this audiobook, however unsettling, is legal.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Surprise, Kill, Vanish
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kareem
- 2019-10-12
Great story narrated by a robot
Captivating story, painstakingly researched full of action and intrigue that was unfortunately narrated by my gps device.
3 people found this helpful
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- SL_TO
- 2019-06-10
Fascinating!
I couldn't stop listening. Fascinating subject and really quite riveting. Author is an excellent narrator.
3 people found this helpful
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- Colin day
- 2019-08-14
decent listen
good book kept me listening even when her voice started to get to me. would recommend
2 people found this helpful
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- Tyson Boucher
- 2019-05-21
Excellent book.
Intriging from start to finish. I've never read a book that has peaked my interest as much as this one has.
2 people found this helpful
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- Francois
- 2023-03-21
Intéressant
Récit très interessant et bien ficelé dans le temps. Une prise de conscience de latitude des opérations secrètes. La pointe du iceberg.
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- Ryan
- 2023-01-21
Fantastic
Annie Jacobsen has written and read an amazing book about the CIA, with interesting characters and incredibly well researched, it is far from a dry & boring historical book. It is compelling and interesting, a fantastic listen.
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- Todd S. Lyons
- 2022-12-31
Wow!
What a wild ride! I couldn't put this down! The only time I put it down not out of necessity, was when I had to let the last chapter soak in. I'm a geopolitics wonk, but this added a whole new layer to so many events, this is the best special operations book I've ever read.
I'm going to now buy all of Annie's other books, not only is the content here amazing, but the author is also a good reader.
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- ZT
- 2021-04-28
amazing
very interesting, great history. Billy is a stud. CIA is crazy! wish there were more like this
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- Tivo
- 2021-03-11
Check out the author. She is a wonderful woman.
I loved it. Considering it did not only lay with one organization, she visits a variety with explanations to basic understanding. You can tell she is passionate about her work and actually does tons of hrs of research and firs hand accounts of some specific events! Loved the book, lover her. Be great to each other and stay safe!
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- TyCB
- 2021-01-15
one of her best so far
amazing listen. her knowledge and passion for the subject is amazing. this is right up there with operation paperclip and area 51. just fantastic.
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- Steve M
- 2019-05-24
Lots of facts, offset by too much fiction
Good book; excellent subject; needs additional substantiation.
Having spent 40+ years in the military and intelligence community, I was looking forward to reading (listening to) this book. This is my first opportunity to enjoy this author and, based on her comments in the prologue, I was encouraged by the evident thorough research and numerous credible references.
Unfortunately, I believe she put a bit too much trust into the veracity of one or two of her first-hand-account sources. For example:
- Reference to assistance from "Lieutenant Colonel John F. Kennedy" during WW II. Assistance from Kennedy is believable, but he was never a LtCol (he was in the Navy).
- So-and-so armed and relying on his '.375' caliber pistol. There is no such thing. Perhaps a mere typo for .357?
- "Each man carried 25 magazines of .223 caliber ammunition and each soldier had 25 grenades of various types." I call 'no-way' on this. As a retired Marine Corps careerist, I've carried M-16 magazines and grenades. 25 of each may be POSSIBLE to pick up, but not possible to maneuver and fight with.
- Numerous references to "RPG tracers" and one subject being "struck in the knee by an RPG." RPGs don't have or produce tracer identities and being struck in the leg with one would unquestionably take that leg clean off.
Trivial observations and unwarranted criticism? Perhaps. However I believe additional research into simple terms, concepts, and historical facts, as well as verifying the credulity of evident military "sea stories," would have moved this book from a 3-star to a 5-star review.
185 people found this helpful
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- M-Theory517
- 2019-07-07
Sources vetted?? Come on...
I was seriously looking forward to this book. My excitement suffered an excruciating death before I made it to Chapter 1. In the intro, one of the author's main sources visits her and her sons at her home. He has with him a challenge coin from our embassy in Kabul (whoopty f'ing do). She says, "he didn't say what he did over there and I knew better than to ask". Seriously??? This is your source and you didn't bother asking him what he actually did over there? By the way - we give out those challenge coins to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that walks through the compound. If you're just delivering food or taking away dirty water, you too can get a challenge coin. Post One even sells them if you're too lazy to earn one. It gets better. This Barney of a source apparently carries 3 cases around with him everywhere he goes. He keeps guns in the first two, and a large, serrated knife in the 3rd. Yes, serrated (you're about to read why this is laughable). Upon seeing the knife, she continues, "'What's that for?' I ask, almost immediately recognizing my mistake." He responds, "Sometimes a job requires quiet." He then closes the case.
Shaking my damn head. I just paid $21 for that garbage?? If I had a dime for every wannabe who came through Baghdad or Kabul as a contractor and then went on to tell EVERYONE how they were Agency black ops, I would have been able to retire 5 years ago. But hey, special props to this Rambo black ops assassin who works quietly with his serrated knife. "Damn thing is stuck again."
Yes. It is THAT bad.
Folks, if you want a book about real deal black ops (albeit Israeli Mossad), read Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman.
80 people found this helpful
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- jenny hankins
- 2019-07-23
Small inaccuracies
This book has many small errors that undermine is credibility. Stuff like JFK’s military rank... he was in the Navy and the book says he was a Lt Col... not a rank used in the Navy. Also referenced Vietnam scene where Billy Waugh is hit by a “tracer RPG”. It was a bullet not an RPG... just finished his book. Editing should catch this stuff
53 people found this helpful
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- JM2020
- 2019-05-25
A lot of mistakes
Jacobsen gets some things right and some things obviously wrong, everything in between is interesting but its veracity is suspect. She gets unit names and call signs wrong with surprising frequency.
39 people found this helpful
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- Penny W.
- 2019-11-04
BASIC & SIMPLE
Very basically written & performed - employing simple language, a total lack of color or detail, & far too few stories from the field. Avoid this book - there are many books about or by the author's sources which provide better detailed accounting of the CIA's "secret" paramilitary operations. Performance by author is flat & uninspired.
24 people found this helpful
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- Richard Davis
- 2019-05-28
More fiction than truth
This book just screams fake from the very beginning and doesn't get any better. It was hard to get past the big knife in the gun case that her first "source" showed her. She might be able to be fooled but anyone that has gotten past Rambo will not.
22 people found this helpful
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- DRF
- 2019-08-05
Lots of info, but not organized very well
There is a great deal of information here and the author did a lot of research using Freedom of Information sources and many personal interviews, as she never tires of telling us. It gets a bit confusing when she jumps from one vignette to another with reckless abandon. The book is organized according to decades, but the episodes she chooses to highlight seem all over the map (literally). The whole thing could benefit from a good outline.
I was disappointed that she didn't spend more time on the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, since she emphasized that this was actually a CIA-lead operation and not a Navy SEAL one. The raid got passed over in a few sentences. I also could not tell whether she was horrified of the covert kill operations or if she was fascinated by the people and technologies. At times it seemed a good deal of both.
Finally, this is what happens when you narrate your own material and don't do enough research as to how to pronounce specialized words. She was shockingly bad in areas with which I am familiar (medicine, photography), so who knows what she was mangling in other categories. "Thor-ACK-tomy" for thoracotomy," "fee-moral" for femoral artery (should be pronounced with a short "e"), "Kway-star" for Questar (pronounced "quest-star") for the telephoto lens brand.
8 people found this helpful
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- Kenton
- 2019-06-02
Another Jacobsen Hit
I LOVE Annie Jacobsen. So before reading on, know that my review is probably tainted, because I go into her books with the attitude of she can do no wrong.
But again, she takes a cloudy subject rife with conspiracy theory and sheds light on the facts through FOI research, face to face interviews with the people involved, and travel to the places where the events happened.
On top of it all, she paces the information and storytelling so it’s a very entertaining read and not just a dry documentary.
Now I will say that while I do enjoy author-narrated books, Annie would benefit from a pronunciation and technical detail editor. She often gets words from the industries and groups she writes about wrong - for example, pronouncing the helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky “SY-korskee” when anyone somewhat familiar with aviation would know it’s “s-KOR-skee.” Or referring to a “.375 Magnum” handgun, when it’s obviously supposed to be the very common “.357 Magnum.” Not huge things, but little slips like that - and there quite a few - tend to degrade the readers’ perception of her obviously rich command of the subject. Her cadence tends to get really slow, too. In fact I play her books back at 1.25x to bring her up to a fairly normal speaking cadence. These are the only reasons I took down the performance score from 5stars.
8 people found this helpful
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- Troy Ray
- 2019-09-05
Distracted by the Reader
Very interesting content that was overshadowed by the Reader's monotony and slaughter of words through mispronunciation.
First time I ever wanted my money back.
6 people found this helpful
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- matthew berghuis
- 2019-05-24
Good material, too many typos and too much opinion
There is a lot of good material in this book, however there are a noticeable amount of typos and opinion as well. It falls into the category of historical non-fiction and reads like a spy thriller. After finishing it I am left doubting several of the authors points and would not use this book as a reference in any scholarly work.
That said, there are some real interesting stories reiterated in this book.
5 people found this helpful