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A desperate gunman holds a planeload of innocent passengers hostage. A heavily armed cult leader refuses to leave his compound, threatening mass suicide by a hundred of his brainwashed followers. A neo-Nazi militant in a cabin hideout keeps federal agents at bay with gunfire. A baby disappears; his only trace is an ominous ransom call to his parents. Prisoners riot, threatening the lives of prison officers and hundreds of other inmates. How do you react? What do you do? What do you say? Your words, your actions can save lives—or lose them. James Botting faced these challenges and daily pressures during a fascinating and demanding twenty-five-year career as an FBI hostage negotiator. He found himself involved—sometimes peripherally, more often personally—in many of the FBI’s most famous events since the 1970s. From Ruby Ridge to Waco, Patty Hearst to Rodney King, and Wounded Knee to TWA 847, Botting was there and on the spot. Along the way hostage negotiation techniques evolved, changing from play-it-by-ear and shoot-from-the-hip to a carefully choreographed psychological game of life and death. Botting was involved every step of the way. In Bullets, Bombs, and Fast Talk: Twenty-five Years of FBI War Stories, Botting vividly describes these events and more as only a participant can. He reviews the successes and the times the FBI fell short. He chillingly recounts a number of times when death seemed inevitable, only to come through unscathed. Botting pulls no punches with this gritty, detailed, and often humorous insider’s account of life at the end of a gun as an FBI hostage negotiator.
Praise For…
“Jim Botting brings a unique perspective, having served both as a SWAT member and crisis negotiator. His experiences include some of the most high-profile events the Bureau has encountered in recent history and he paints a realistic, insightful, and at times, humorous picture of the FBI. With his comfortable style, Jim makes you feel as though you have met many of the people on its pages. Jim has artfully managed to take away some of the mystery that still unfairly haunts the FBI.”—Bill Gore, former FBI SAC and current undersheriff of San Diego County
“In my almost twenty-nine years with the FBI, Jim Botting was clearly in the class of the best Agents I ever worked with or around. Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk provides a unique insight into FBI major cases and the occasional incidents of law enforcement politics, and leaves the reader with a sense of why being an FBI Special Agent is the best job on the planet.”—Grant Ashley, former executive assistant director, Law Enforcement Services and Investigation, FBI
“Reading Bullets, Bombs, and Fast Talk brought back many memories from early in my own career. In the middle of one exciting case another new agent turned to me and said, ‘You know, this is so cool that I would pay the FBI to do this!’ Botting’s book resounds with this same career-long enthusiasm for the job. He tells a story that only an FBI Special Agent could tell with sincerity and honesty, warts and all.”—Frederick J. Lanceley, former supervisory special agent in the Special Operations and Research Unit, FBI Academy, and author of On Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators
"Jim Botting provides an extraordinary front-row seat to some of the most riveting FBI incidents from his twenty-five years. From the Bureau’s alphabet soup of CIRGs and HRTs to an eclectic cast of characters, crooks, and crazies, Jim takes us along for a wild ride. It’s a dizzying account guaranteed to leave the reader exhausted."—Bruce Sokolove, former undersheriff for the Washtenaw County, Michigan, sheriff's department
"Jim Botting provides a vivid account of some of the most high-profile incidents of the late twentieth century. This book will appeal to a wide audience with interests in crime and justice and can serve as a thought-provoking supplement for students of law enforcement."—Edmund McGarrell, director and professor, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University
"First-person, you-are-there law-enforcement adventure saga by a male agent who wielded guns, solved crimes and sometimes saved lives.
Botting joined the FBI in 1971 after earning advanced college degrees, serving in Vietnam and working as an investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department. With that background, he was well prepared for dicey situations, but poorly prepared for the racial tensions that simmered in Mississippi, site of Botting's first FBI posting. "Y'all just don't understand. You're a goddamn Yankee, boy," the Michigan-born author heard constantly that first year; only a transfer to the Los Angeles office kept him from quitting. (He remained with the Bureau until 1995.) Placed in the Violent Crimes and Major Offenders unit, Botting was near the center of action at episode after episode that made headlines. Those cases included the pursuit of heiress Patty Hearst after her abduction by the Symbionese Liberation Army; the standoff with Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho; the murderous debacle in Waco, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of David Koresh and many of his blindly loyal Branch Davidian followers; plus dozens more. Occasionally, Botting provides an education in handling the stresses of high-stakes police work, as when he explains why it's significant when a ransom note doesn't arrive after a confirmed kidnapping. More frequently, he offers little education but plenty of titillation. A conscious and careful stylist—unlike many law-enforcement agents who become authors—Botting knows when to inject humor, however dark, into a grim account. He doesn't provide much documentation for his exploits, but he exudes credibility—at least between the covers of the book.
Vivid presentation of stories so dramatic that they fully justify the old saw that truth is stranger than fiction."—Kirkus Reviews