Tyler Askin

Awesome sequel/prequel. Jack Carr recommended

Revisado: 08-21-22

Tight story with all the similar detailed action of the movie. It does feel a bit convenient at times with the path-crossing involving Chris, Neal, vincent, and Otis.

The narrator is annoying and gravelly at first, but after the preface it gets better. He does a good job of capturing Pacino's mannerisms for Vincent.

I love some of the characterization details you don't get from the movie. Before I found out about the book I watched Heat again and couldn't really understand why Neil turned around to kill Wayngro. I chalked it up to Neil being unable to escape his lifestyle; despite his disciplined professionalism, he was the same high-chasing criminal as his friends. The book gives a much more flattering explanation. Neil was afraid of leaving loose ends that would ruin his escape like before. I like seeing Chris undergo an evolution from gambling-addicted man child to professional criminal entrepreneur. I'm assuming Mann had these back stories fleshed out and this wasn't postscript revisionism.
The book shows Vincent as much more of a cursed human than the movie. Otis is a great villain and when paired with Anna's story the book ends up stratifying the levels of criminality and evil that exist in a world out of sight from ordinary civilians.

Great book. Would recommend it if you like the movie.

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Eye opening about what special forces actually is

Revisado: 02-21-22

So many great things about this book.

1st. His principles that he shares are very helpful when learning how to navigate teams on the field. That transcends the military. I can use these tools when working on drill operations with foreign exploratory companies. ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION TO THE GUY ON THE GROUND

2nd. Ani nteresting look at what special forces is and how it should be used. These are very open-minded, cooperative, and adaptable personalities. There's this conflict with special forces and the military. Because these are guys that have been so well trained at fighting in wars, but many come to realize that the U.S. govt is actually one of their biggest enemies. Operation Anaconda is by all-means a success, but a good chunk of U.S. casualties are from chain-of-command incompetence, institutional dogma, and military industrial complex corruption. Special Forces is not necessarily a killing machine, but a team for performing highly sensitive tasks to ensure high likelihood of success. These are guys that want to be in war and genuinely think about their duty. The problem seems to be the U.S. govt designed a weapon too sophisticated for its own good.

3. If you want to critique the U.S. empire there are no better people to look toward than veterans. He never says it explicitly, but you can see there was no reason for our 20 year long middle eastern campaign. The Taliban had no real relationship with Al Qaida. There was no genuine goal for success in Afghanistan other than to use the equipment purchased.

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This book haunts me. The Russian Heart of Darkness

Revisado: 03-09-21

Is war just a storm? A natural phenomenon that stems from some social/psychological feature of humanity. It blows my mind that something like this was going on during our lifetime. This could have been a story from 1914 with how awful things were over there. I am truly grateful for the conditions of my life.

The beatings are what affected me the most. The sheer sense of isolation and injustice that came from being on base. I can slightly imagine the conditions of combat, but I can't imagine putting up with that. Completely changed my low-information opinion of the Russian military system.

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A millennial Anarchist's take.

Revisado: 07-20-20

I've read a lot of hate about this book. I see what the critics mean. Please note my five star review. The author tells a story about a very stereotypical "white" America having to deal with HARSH realities of the American Empire's collapse. Sometimes the story is cheesy. College kids singing the star spangled banner, the idea of city folk being sheep, and every race in community uniting together as Americans. The author clearly has no idea how to write female characters. The daughters and Mikayla are one dimensional. I also have some skepticism toward the city government's (Kate, Tom, Charlie, John, and Keller) effectiveness on maintaining authority for so long.

YET, critics need to remember that this is the author's perspective. The man wrote civil war historical fiction. He only knows what he knows and I will not fault him for that. If you consider this book as the perspective of ordinary, "unwoke" Americans to such a catastrophic event then it does make sense. The point of the book is that The Second After the lights go out all that political bullshit goes out the window.

The theme of this book is the only thing to expect from history is death. Untold horrors across the globe can happen here. We are not special. Government is not responsible for your safety. Any collapse in this extremely delicate infrastructure will lead to catastrophe. You may be reading this in the U.S., but right now Lebanon is experiencing historic inflation. People are eating people in Liberia and slaves are being sold in Libya. This book hit me harder than any other post-apocalypse book. I think because it's so real. The author contextualizes abstract historical violence into personal moments. You are not prepared. You and almost everyone you know will die.

The book is intended to shake up our government "leaders" to prepare for such an attack. One of my friend's said it's a book meant to "legitimize the existence of the system." It should be a wake up call for individuals to try and ween themselves from reliance on the globalized economy. Don't go and try to buy your way out of the apocalypse with canned food and guns. The Prepped trap is real. Learn a skill, get in shape, learn who is in your neighborhood. Don't assume that just because there is power that everything is under control. There never was any control. That was an illusion. Your life is in your hands.

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Visceral. also a book for gear heads

Revisado: 07-16-20

The violence is real. Hits close and impersonal. One of my favorite parts about his writing and he got dark with this one.


It's hard for me to place my gripe with Carr's writing. His good guys are too good and bad guys too bad. The enemies are all cowards with some kind of sexual disorder. The good guys are all perfectly prepared for a situation. You could chalk it up as a nod to his love of 80s media. I don't like the rogue aspect our military industrial complex has taken over the decades, but I find it interesting to see how he justifies it's necessity. It's a sharp turn from the first book's slight anarchistic tone.

He LOVES his gear. It's a constant theme throughout all these books. Chilling with a Yeti Tundra 65™ enjoying a Ballast Point IPA, and a holstered Sig P226 loaded with Federal 147gr. It just becomes a little absurd sometimes. I get it though. People live and die by their gear. It can say a lot about a person.

Still a great trilogy. Would recommend.

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Great beginning, but washes out at the end.

Revisado: 06-17-20

I think Bryan Cranston takes away from the story.

Wasn't a fan of the end credits.

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This really is a troll novel for the government

Revisado: 05-03-20

and I love it.

lots of technical knowledge and an insightful criticism of federal beaurocracy from someone on the inside. sometimes it's like a parody of "right wing" zeitgeist, but I was hooked from start to finish.

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Excellent narrative of tectonic history.

Revisado: 03-11-20

I'm a geologist and had this recommended to me by another geologist. The author accurately called out a lot of our personal fascinations with rocks. I love stories of deep time and the author does a good job of hammering in the scale to the reader. It's a book with big, 3D, ideas. sometimes gets a little repetitive and would have liked to have heard more about travels than the history of geology.

the narrator does an amazing job! The book is already written with a very textile language. constant use of the words "rock", "crumble", "clay", and "crack". The narrator has a voice that seems to emphasize the words.

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A classic BEE novel.

Revisado: 08-16-19

Of course it's dark. It's Ellis. A mix of the apparent nihilism of the "latch-key" generation set in Hollywood. Beautiful wealthy teens with nothing to believe in. The hell of a constant paradise.

Its funny that he wrote about this in the 80's because I went through something very similar in the late 00's with the punk scene in NM. Angry teens with no parents in site. everyone fucked up on something and always getting in trouble I guess it took a while for the mindset to spread. Now there almost seems to be a puritanical rebound after 08. Everyone strongly believes in something and is angry. I've always been so curious to know what it would be like to be a beautiful wealthy person living amongst the elites. I think Ellis makes you see yourself for who you really are. The frustration with passivity amongst "evil" people. Yet, you're confronted with your own sick voyeuristic curiosity. "Why am I here? Why am I still reading?" Because you want to see how bad things can get. Yet, you know right from wrong. You're not that bad.

Also glad they got the same narrator from American Psycho. I think he adds style to the reading. Even makes voices for when the characters are smoking joints and holding in while talking.

Listen to his podcast if you like his books!

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Movie is better.

Revisado: 06-15-18

Good book. probably not my favorite Palahniuk story, but good. I think this is just one of those rare occasions where the movie slammed a solid home run. I wanted Edward Norton as the narrator and I feel like the theme of the movie was even different than the book.

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