Facing Down Evil [Hardcover]

Clint Van Zandt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2006

With more than twenty-five years of service in the FBI, Clint Van Zandt, one of the seminal figures in the formation of the FBI's Hostage Negotiation Program, has been party to such unsettling and high-profile conflicts as the Waco siege, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Unabomber case. His expertise-both as a crisis negotiator and as an FBI insider-has, since his retirement from the FBI, made him a fixture in the media; since his retirement from the FBI, he has been called upon more than three thousand times to provide insight and analysis when high-profile hostage situations arise. In Facing Down Evil Van Zandt recounts his most memorable cases-some televised in every living room across the country, and many others that took place beneath the radar of all but those individuals involved whose lives were permanently altered.

From blue-collar beginnings in the Midwest, Clinton Van Zandt fulfilled his childhood dream when he took an entry-level job in the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a clerk in J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, eventually playing a leading roll in the FBI's groundbreaking work in hostage negotiation. In the years that followed, Agent Van Zandt rose through the ranks, helping to form the FBI's Hostage rose through the ranks, helping to form the FBI's Hostage Negotiation and Behavioral Science Program, where he would encounter madmen like Timothy McVeigh, David Koresh, and Ted Kaczynski.

Van Zandt draws the reader into his private world of hostage negotiations, taking us inside the criminal mind, the impossibly high-stress situations, the ticking of the clock before SWAT is brought in, the art of calling a hostage-taker's bluff, and the despair over a botched operation or a nonnegotiable situation. It is both a gripping page-turner and a thoughtful examination of our nation's most powerful law enforcement agency through the eyes of someone on the front line of many of the FBI's most famous and infamous cases.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Van Zandt, an early FBI specialist in hostage negotiation, shuns the fireworks his fictional Hollywood counterparts can't seem to avoid, yet veteran ghostwriter Paisner (Citizen Koch) has successfully converted his reminiscences into a surprisingly entertaining series of anecdotes. Despite the absence of gunplay, these nuts-and-bolts descriptions of bank robberies, dramatic prison riots, grotesque scenarios in which the offender yearns to die and exotic hostage dramas in foreign lands make for gripping reading. A standout is 40 pages on the 1985 siege of the Covenant, an armed survivalist cult living on a heavily defended rural Arkansas farm. Few Americans remember the outcome: a hundred men, women and children peacefully surrendered. Van Zandt also relates his autobiography, beginning as a poor youth with divorced parents whose dream was to become a G-man, which required overcoming obstacles such as failing courses in college. He describes himself as a deeply religious born-again Christian who, unlike colleagues, never subordinated family to career but who loves the FBI and America and holds a low opinion of criminals, America's enemies and liberals. This turns out to be charming and does not diminish the value of his stories, which could appeal to readers not normally drawn to such macho adventures. (Sept. 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Before retiring from the FBI in 1995, Van Zandt, one of the key figures in the formation of the agency's Hostage Negotiation Program in the 1970s, brought the strategies of negotiation to a host of white-knuckle and high-profile hostage standoffs. In this gripping memoir, he brings readers in on the secrets behind his ability to defuse hostage situations. In casebook format, Van Zandt reviews the great standoffs of his career, including a bank robbery gone sour in Rochester, New York; a weeks-long confrontation with a white supremacist group in Arkansas; a Cuban prisoner rebellion, with staffers held hostage, in Alabama; the kidnapping of corporate executive Michael Barry in Manila; and (briefly) a run-in with the Unabomber and the tragedies of Waco and Oklahoma City. The writing (with the help of coauthor Paisner) is crisp and fast-paced, and Van Zandt's revelations about hostage negotiation tactics and actual encounters are fascinating. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (September 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039915308X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153082
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #841,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent autobiography, September 10, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Facing Down Evil (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating look from a different perspective at some of the major FBI incidents spanning a twenty-five year career that ended in retirement in 1995. Clint Van Zandt provides a little background material about his growing up and makes no apologies for being a family man who loves his country and his agency. However, the autobiography takes off with the specific incidents including some overseas especially the more famous ones like the 1985 siege of the Covenant, the 1993 Waco confrontation with the Branch Davidians, the Unabomber, and his paradigm suggestion that Oklahoma City was tied to Waco not the Middle East. This is an excellent autobiography of a dedicated law enforcement official who spent a career FACING DOWN EVIL as it is the behind the scenes look at these cases and more that will grip the audience.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal Read - So much more than a mindless handbook on Crisis Negotiations, December 12, 2006

By 

Micah I Palmer (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facing Down Evil (Hardcover)

"Facing Down Evil" is a legitimate, keenly observed look at the FBI and Hostage Negotiations by one of it's key players. Van Zandt brings a unique perspective of the Bureau to the page. He is real in his emotion and attitude and doesn't play the glory card so many others do in their memoirs. You actually feel as if you walk a mile in his shoes and it is a tough, yet gratifying path. Van Zandt succesfully intertwines stories of his personal life with his carreer and in doing so draws his audience in and keeps them wanting more untill the last page is turned.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good light read, October 6, 2006

By 

S. James (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facing Down Evil (Hardcover)

I was actually disapointed in this book. Given the authors background I was hoping for a book that went into some detail into his methods, beliefs and techniques of crisis negotiation. What I got was a very light but enjoyable read that covered his career in the FBI (including his battles with the beaucracy which I felt did not add to the story) and four incidents of crisis negotiating, which had some good basic tips. Waco got a mention - but only to say he will leave it to the next book - rather frustrating.

My recommendation is, if you want a book on techniques, buy one of the others on the market (for example Van Zandt's fellow ex-agent Fred Lanceley's "On Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators", or even Frank Bolz 'Hostage Cop"), but if you want a good read and an interesting story then this would be a good book to get.