Time Bandit

Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs

By: Andy Hillstrand, Johnathan Hillstrand, Malcolm MacPherson

Narrated by: William Dufris

The Time Bandit is the fishing vessel that Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand use to hook the "deadliest catch", Alaskan king crabs and opilio crabs, in the Bering Sea. They take valuable crabs from the sea while facing its dangers head on. In pursuit of their daily catch, the brothers brave ice floes and heaving 60-foot waves, gusting winds of 80 miles per hour, unwieldy and unpredictable half-ton steel crab traps, and an injury rate of almost 100-percent.

There are fewer than 400 fishermen of this kind in the United States, and early death is a common fate. But the Hillstrand brothers are drawn to the drama and adventure of life on the high seas, as was their grandfather before them. They don't complain about the risks and dangers - this is their world.

©2008 Andy Hillstrand, Johnathan Hillstrand, and Malcolm MacPherson (P)2008 Tantor

Very enjoyable

I bought this for my husband, as we are both fans of the series "Deadliest Catch". I listened to it first, and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much humor, some sadness, very poignant moments. I'd recommend it to all.

Terrific!

I was very happy to have found and then finished this book. I really enjoyed!

good stories - bad ghostwriter

This was a welcome book about two brothers I had learned about from the show and already liked. Stories were excellent, narrative about brothers and trouble they got in to and their "off the boat" lives were excellent. A near dealbreaker was the lack of grammatical contractions. The ghostwriter or editor clearly stuck to some silly "style" rule that appears to forbid the use of the words "can't" or "Don't" or "won't" in the first person narratives and instead used "do not" "will not", etc. It was very distracting- I am sure tough-as-rocks, hard working Alaskan fisherman do not talk like that. It would have helped if the bothers Hillstrand narrated instead of a pro, or if they had used different narrators for each of the brothers portions. So in short- excellent plot, poor writing

Much Better Then I Had Expected

For Fans of the Discovery Channels 'Deadliest Catch' Series, this story follows the captains of the Time Bandit one of the 4-5 crab boats they feature in the series. Chapters are told from alternating perspectives of Andy and Jonathan, with one overlying story that makes it even better then just hearing stories from there seasons on the boat. The book covers the King Crab and Snow Crab seasons, as well as there growing up, and personal lives. I think this book even if you have not seen the show would still be enjoyable and maybe make you look into the series. If you have followed the crew over the 4-5 seasons you will remember some of the events they talk about which makes you fell more a part of the story. Being chased by the Russian Navy while fishing in there waters is only one of the great segments.

- Andrew H. Hochheimer

Good complement to the show!

If you watch and enjoy TV's Deadliest Catch, this is a good choice to help you delve a bit more into the details of this crazy line of work.
Hearing the costs and expenses involved in stocking and maintaining the boat in relation to the dollars made from a successful catch is an interesting part of the story.
Made me greatly appreciate the fact that there are guys out there crazy enough to do this job so we can enjoy the crab leg special at Red Lobster.