Sniper

American Single-Shot Warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan

By: Gina Cavallaro, Matt Larsen

Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin, Johnny Heller

From Afghanistan's Hindu Kush peaks and sunbaked Helmand Valley to Baghdad, Mosul and Ramadi in Iraq, American snipers have braved heart-pounding situations to hit their human targets dead-on. Few military feats stir the imagination like the image of a pair of riflemen waiting quietly in a building, a bomb crater, or a mountain pass for a Taliban or Al Qaeda fighter to walk into their crosshairs. Sniper presents real-life tales from the military's frontline snipers---their hits and their misses, the anguish of loss, and the anxiety of the first kill. Authors Gina Cavallaro and Matt Larsen provide riveting accounts of American soldiers and marines on the battlefield, and take a rare look at how Rangers and Special Forces snipers train and operate, and how the war on terror has changed the role of military snipers.

©2010 Gina Cavallaro with Matt Larsen (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The best-of-the-best snipers in action today discuss gunfights, long distance shots, stalking, and more. This is real, it is stirring, and yes, even horrifying." ( Shelf Life)

poor narration, not a story

kinda like an super long news broadcast. good info but not written in an interesting way. narrator isn't a good one for this type of book and makes things worse by trying to imitate people's accents in quoted text

Poor naration and organization

I was disappointed with this title. It's a collection of anecdotes (many of which were interesting), but without any apparent organization. What really stood out, however, was the naration. It was dreadful. I presume that the publisher employed professional voice actors, but they repeatedly butchered every accent they attempted.

Great Material, Needs a better Narrator

Where does Sniper rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Great stories, but a slight twist from what Im used to in that it talked more about feelings and emotions. Im more interested in the actual events, tactics, and the experiences; but this book seemed to branch into the "how does that make you feel?" touchy side of being a sniper. Different.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sniper?

The main takeaway from the book was that it attempted to pull the emotional effects their stories, again, just different

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Absolutely despised the way this book was read. I could go on and on, but the narrator needs to really improve on her performance. For example: 1. The volume changes as you speak into the microphone and then away from the microphone. It is as if the narrator was reading a book in her lap, and looked down at it to read, and then speak back and forth to the microphone. So the volume just went up and down, up and down. Horrible!!!

2. Her voice and inflections on the story didn't match the content. For example, at the end of the sentence her voice went up when she said "...he said." But it sounds like she was about to start the sentence with those words "He said..." Confusing!

3. Please don't ever try to attempt a New England accent; that is a poor attempt. Really, all the accents attempted were just plain horrible

4. Just skip the attempts at a regional accent and just read it plainly next time. It's the content we are after, not making it into some kind of a theatrical play. I would have rather heard the Monty Python's old British ladies reading this book!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Content was fair to good; the main narrator ruined it though

Disappointing

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really. Given the amount of material available, it was less than satisfactory

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most: based on fact
Least: boringly described and performed

What aspect of Jo Anna Perrin and Johnny Heller ’s performance would you have changed?

They did not excite

Could you see Sniper being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No

Narrators

Don’t use a female to narrate combat scenario. Worse when a woman tries to imitate a male voice. Horrible!!