Customer Reviews

Sniper: Inside the Hunt for the Killers Who Terrorized the Nation

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I picked up "Sniper" in a book store far from Washington, DC and had to buy the book and bring it home -- I couldn't put it down. Horwitz and Ruane have taken events about which I thought I had heard everything and brought new life to them. Anyone interested in police work, investigative reporting, or how our lives have changed in this time of a feeling of increased vulnerability to acts of violence should read this book. Forget the one-hour TV crime dramas -- this is the real thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down once I began reading it. It seemed to capture the horror the people in the DC area felt while the snipers were at large. I would have like to have seen more about the police procedurals and the detective work done to catch these guys. I am sure there is a lot more to this story than was told in this book.
However this is an enthralling, scary story that will make you wonder what kind of atrocity will happen next.

Two snipers terrorized the Washington DC area one year ago, sending fear and panic throughout the area and beyond. I remember it well - I live there. Like millions of others, I watched the news reports on TV and listened to them on radio. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when the two snipers were captured. And many millions of people wanted to know more. Who were these people? What were their backgrounds? What motivated them? What was it like behind the scenes for the law enforcement officials involved?

Those hoping for detailed accounts in any of the above mentioned areas are likely to be disappointed. `Sniper' does succeed in taking the reader inside the manhunt for the snipers, as the cover states, but only on a very basic level. The book is only slightly over 200 pages long. That's hardly enough space to go into much detail.

Readers will get a general idea of who the two snipers were before they began their reign of terror, but it's not enough. Their backgrounds are only given a superficial treatment and we're told very few facts by the people who knew them. As far as what motivated them to do the things they did? Again, we get a general picture, but that's the problem: it's too general. Readers want to understand what made these monsters kill. They want to see the progressions in their lives that brought on these events.

The police procedures are examined in somewhat better detail, but I could have used more. This was the most harrowing, yet fascinating criminal case in years, but we're not really made to feel the terror, we're not made to feel the tension as evidence is gathered, and we're not presented with enough of the frustration the investigators experienced. Sure, we all know that there was friction between federal, state, and local officials, but what was its genesis? And what about the media? No attempt was made to explain how all the media leaks happened, only that they did happen.

For what it is, a general summary of what happened, but book does a good job. If that was the primary focus of the book, it succeeded. But I wish the book had gone into more detail in all areas. I think other readers will feel the same way.

238 pages - 16 pages of black and white photos (nothing graphic)

Living in Montgomery county at the time of the sniper's killing spree was scary to say the least. My company did outside work and used white box trucks therefore our employees were suspects and potential targets at the same time.
The book "Sniper: Inside the Hunt for the Killers Who Terrorized a Nation" is a fairly well written chronicle of the events. There isn't much in the book I wasn't aware of but a few questions were raised.
In an article by Dave McGowan titled, "The DC Sniper Six Years Later" we're informed that Muhammad's ex-wife worked for Ashcroft's DOJ, Muhammad kidnapped his own children but was never charged for the crime, Muhammad completed his tour of duty from Ft. Lewis army base that has a sniper training program. These facts are not raised in the Horowitz/Ruane narrative.
In "Sniper" we're told that Muhammad purchase a Bushmaster rifle from a gun shop in Tacoma. Later he sold the Bushmaster back to the same gunshop. "Sniper" does not disclose the name of the gun shop which was Welcher's.
On page 54 we're told how Muhammad would hang out at the Bull's Eye Shooter Supply in Tacoma. A Bushmaster .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle mysteriously turned up "missing" and was assumed to have been sold. Three months later ,after the arrest of Muhammad and Malvo, the shop realized the gun must have been stolen. No questions about the integrity of the Bull's Eye ownership, inventory controls and sales practices are raised.
McGowan sites several sources that quote John Muhammad as stating that "he attended Special Forces/Sniper School" and was taught "urban warfare". He told a nephew a dubious story that "he worked for the CIA".
Muhammad claimed that Malvo "was a highly trained operative, recruited for his ability to infiltrate the youth culture".
Police Chief Charles Moose and John Muhammad served in the Oregon National Guard at the same time but in different units in Portland.
(see Jim Rarey's article "The Rise and Fall of Charles Moose")
The weirdest part of the story are the cryptic messages written on the tarrot death card and the strange phrases used by Moose in some of the press conferences. Shortly after delivering what seemed to be a post hypnotic message " We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose..." Muhammad and Malvo were found at a rest stop sleeping in the blue Caprice.
As of May 6, 2008 it was revealed that Muhammad wants to put an end to his legal appeals of his death sentence "so that you can murder this innocent black man." An appeal filed by Muhammad's lawyers in April 2008 cited evidence of brain damage that may render Muhammad incompetant to make legal decisions.
"Sniper" is a quick narrative of the tragic events and a glimpse into the world of the investigation.
If you read "Sniper" just be aware there is more to the story.

Horwitz has two -- two -- pulitzer prizes and a Robert Kennedy award for her investigative journalism and this book helps explain why. This book was important to read, and captivating, like a mystery, but it was difficult and sickening to think about the tragedy it describes. It is important to read so other killers are caught sooner and with better coordination by our first responders. Well worth it and no one could have done it better.

It's really not the authors' fault, but there are so many people that worked on this case, it is confusing trying to keep everyone straight. Same with the victims. To me, this book never fully developed the characters. It's more like a rundown of what happened, but nothing of substance. This book is mainly about Malvo and Muhammed, but who are they really? At the end there is a brief conversation from Malvo that was very interesting because it gave some feedback on what he'd done, but that's it. I just felt a void, like what was really the point? By the end I was ready to be done with the book and move onto something better. I bought this from a book club and wish I hadn't.

This book is a much beter read that "Three Weeks in October". The reporting is well put together and reads smoothly. It lacks a little bit of perspective that would have come from more time elapsing after the case evolved, but that is a minor criticism.

Overall, a pretty good book with some good inside information that is also a well paced read.

This book could have been much better if the authors would have taken the time to interview many sources that were available to them. This book could easily have been 400 pages and told the whole story. I am disappointed after waiting for this book and seeing the final product.

The book by MCP Chief Charles Moose,"Three Weeks in October," tells about what happened during the sniper terror that gripped the Washington Metro area. But "Sniper," tells a whole lot more about what actually happened. The exact locations of the murders and woundings, the way the victims died, the way they were shot. It takes you step by step with the crime solvers and with the snipers. Daily, you find out what really happened, where it happened and why over 250 law enforcement officials were so baffled and had a difficult time capturing the snipers. I live within minutes of many of the crime scenes and I will tell you that my entire family was terrified. It changed our lives, made us jumpy when we went outside. Pumping gas was a real horrific event too. But the book also tells of the heroes such as Chief Moose, who was just about at the end of his rope and showed his humanity with tears at the shooting of a student. Of course Captain Barney Forsythe, who spent long hours, above and beyond his duty day, trying and stave off the killers is too a hero. If you want to have a good idea of what it was like during those harrowing days in October, read this book. The fine authors, from the Washington Post, tell it just the way it happened. I hope that we never ever have to deal with the fear that was thrust upon us in Montgomery County and the areas surrounding us again. But in these times, one never knows what the day will bring. Also, remember that the police are not here to protect us. They are here to uphold the laws.


Kudos to "nine-Henry-ten."

What is the face of evil? In this sniper case, the faces are two - a 15-year-old boy and a man old enough to be his father. They are ordinary faces; yet they methodically killed and wounded as many as 5 people a day without mercy. Their movements were random, frustrating police and FBI agents. Acting on mistaken information of a white van, the officials floundered - clueless, while the pair remained invisible and deadly - shooting from a small hole in the truck of a dark blue Caprice. All around them a tempest roared.
Authors Horwitz and Ruane tell us chapter by chapter what happened, who the killers were, who the victims were, and how they ultimately were captured.