Rating: 
Summary: Great Read!!!
Review: Cold Zero is a voice that the public has been waiting to hear. This is our opportunity to hear from a professional, intelligent, man who knows what he is talking about. The loud voice of the minority who think they know what happened during the tramatic events Christopher Whitcomb describes has been widely publicised by the media. What a relief to finally hear from someone who knows. This is a great read!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Lot's of bravado, very little concern for The Law
Review: Seems like Mr. Whitcomb revels in having taken part in the murders at Ruby Ridge and Waco.
This guy should probably be in jail for his involvement in those disasters, along with a lot of other HuRT members. Still, the book is an above average read, if you like a lot of fiction mixed with the facts.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Life Action Hero
Review: As a 15-year veteran who has worked on some of the most infamous cases in recent American history, Christopher Whitcomb gives us the opportunity to take a peek inside the FBI. But not only the inside story in the field, also a look at the day-to-day dealings from headquarters.We follow his story from the unbelievable moment he is told that he's been accepted into the FBI and then into the elite Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). It's in this unit that he was involved in some of the FBI's most well known hostage situations and has been awarded the FBI's Medal of Bravery. Whitcomb's account reads like any best-selling thriller, the only difference being that this is real life. You can track the author's fast learning curve that takes him very rapidly from a raw recruit to a seasoned veteran. But it's not only the action that the author saw that really makes a mark. The amount of training that this unit goes through is truly phenomenal, and gives you an amazing insight into just how dedicated these men must truly be. We get a unique inside view on events surrounding such high profile and high-pressure situations as Ruby Ridge and Waco and even the atrocities he witnessed towards the end of the Kosovo conflict. This gives us a fascinating insider's view of what goes on inside the FBI as well as the toll, both emotional and physical, that it takes on the agents. A brilliant and fascinating read for anyone interested in true crime, action stories and the workings of the FBI.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating! Uplifting! A Must Read!
Review: "The world looks different through a rifle scope."....So begins a fascinating account of one man's experiences as a member of the FBI and more specifically, it's elite Hostage Rescue Team. I had the good fortune and genuine pleasure to meet the author who spoke to a group I am a member of recently. After reading his book, I am amazed that he can maintain a sense of humor and his enthusiasim for what is a deadly serious and often unpleasant business. A former speech writer for a U.S. Congressman, Whitcomb uses his writing ability to easily convey to the reader the essense of what it takes to (1) want to join the FBI (2) actually do it and (3) become a member of the HRT. He then takes us to places we thought we had been before - Ruby Ridge - Waco - and we see them through a different lens and the perspective is jolting. Because of his enthusiasim for the subject he sometimes tells us a bit more than we really want or need to know about some of the nuts and bolts of how things are done, but you never lose a sense of awe and respect for what these people do to keep us safe. In his speech to our group he mentioned that the members of the Hostage Rescue Team are none too pleased with the current popular use of the acronym, HRT.(Hormone Replacement Therapy) Be that as it may, their hormones are clearly in proper place and alignment and you will gain some new respect for these people who operate without fanfare to catch bad guys - free the innocent - straightening things out. You will sleep a little sounder and you will thank them for their service. This is a book about very special people and some of them are on the HRT. Others support them from the homefront, which you will see as you read this, is far from easy. Rosie Whitman deserves our thanks and earns our admiration as well. What other profession expects wives to accept without question their husband's sudden absense without explanation and without information as to whether it will be a day, a week or a month or more? And they know that they always travel in harm's way. It takes real love, committment and understanding and Chris Whitman is blessed with this in abundance.
Rating: 
Summary: Uneven Whitcomb autobiography
Review: "Cold Zero", Christopher Whitcomb's initial literary offering, which is his account of his career in the FBI suffers mostly from the timimg of its release. It's release date was unbelieveably 9/11/2001! This unfortunately dooms the book which chronicles major FBI cases because it doesn't include the most major threat to law enforcement agencies ever, 9/11.
Whitcomb, a New Hampshire raised speechwriter for a senior member of the House of Representatives, gets bitten with the patriotism bug and decides to enlist with the FBI. After much testing and personal sacrifice he eventually gets recruited. He earns his bones chasing after felons, first based in Kansas City and then the Ozarks. He again feels the need to move on to a bigger challenge and tries out for the elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team. He is selected along with 6 others from among a large pool of candidates. He is commissioned to be trained as a sniper.
In his 6 years on the Hostage Rescue Team, he is involved in both the Ruby Ridge and Branch Davidian of Waco conflicts. Through his eyes we get an inside look at the mechanics used in the resolution of these affairs. Whitcomb's frustrations and feelings are divulged and ultimately give rise to a feeling of burnout. He eventually leaves to team and finds his niche as an instructor in the FBI based Critical Incident Response Group.
His account of his career has some interesting moments as we are able to monitor several controversial crises through his eyes. The book however concludes in a meandering fashion as Whitcomb struggles to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.
Rating: 
Summary: Book Lover
Review: Special Agent Christopher Whitcomb is one of only about 200 people who have ever been part of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team (HRT). HRT is one of America's counterterroism units along with the Army's Delta Force and Navy SEAL Team Six. In this book, Special Agent Whitcomb provides a very informative and engaging look at his life in the FBI. The reader follows him on some of his more interesting assignments doing casework out of a satellite office in Missouri and when Whitcomb feels the need to do more in his life, he takes the reader through his selection process into the HRT. From his description, I imagine the HRT selection process to be somewhat similar to the Navy BUD/S (SEAL) selection process. Anyone familiar with BUD/S (or if you've seen some of Hollywood's bastardized film versions like G.I. Jane), knows that the process is amazingly taxing--both physically and psychologically--and there is a very high drop out rate. Obviously, Whitcomb managed to get through selection and becomes a sniper on the HRT. He was present and accounted for the standoff on Ruby Ridge and in Waco, Texas during the Branch Davidians crisis. Though both situations were tense and Whitcomb manages to portray that mood in his writing, there isn't much excitement involved (for the reader). I imagine most of Whitcomb's missions are still classified and that's unfortunate. Though Whitcomb provides his experience during some of the most famous current events of the past 15 years or so (like Ruby Ridge and Waco), there isn't much to get excited about. With a book about an elite unit like the Hostage Rescue Team, one would expect (and presumably want) a lot of action. Sadly, there wasn't much to speak of. Also, I would recommend skipping the last three chapters because they don't really seem relevant to the primary function of HRT. Although the book doesn't provide as much action and excitement as I would have liked, Whitcomb is a good writer and the book is a very good read. Perhaps some of Whitcomb's more exciting missions will be declassified in the future and he can write a follow-up with some more meat to it, especially since this book was written and published prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. I'd be extremely interested in reading what role HRT played immediately following 9/11 and what they are doing now. Still, I would recommend this book to people interested in the FBI and especially to potential candidates to HRT. Lastly, Special Agent Whitcomb if you get a chance to read this: Thank you for your service to this great country.
Rating:
Summary: A complete account
Review: For anyone familiar with Danny Coulson's No Heroes, this book should be the requisite companion. Where Coulson's book suffers, Whitcomb's account excels. Coulson's book claimed to be an insider's account into the HRT, but really failed in that respect. Coulson's role was never really of the HRT operator but, rather, a skilled supervisor. Whitcomb's Cold Zero is all that and more. More than anything I've seen, Cold Zero is a nearly exact account of an HRT operator/sniper's daily life. The rigors of selection and training and the hell of having to laying motionless for hours on end, always ready to take a shot that WILL kill someone, often only inches from an innocent hostage. Whitcomb is, in a word, skilled. As the reader should quickly realize, HRT members excel at everything. They approach everything they do with the same intense concentration and focus on perfection that is required of the FBI's elite counter-terrorism force. Whitcomb's prose in unencubered and to the point. His descriptions of the seiges at Ruby Ridge, Waco and others are total sensory experiences. (Actually, ever visual picture in the book is partnered with this same sensory drama. One of my favorite, although brief, parts of the books is Whitcomb's description of his guille suit. It's easy to assume what it looks like, but the reader learns how it smells, feels, sounds, etc.) The one flaw, which I think is unavoidable, is Whitcomb's distaste for Bureau resistance to his mission. One will recall from Coulson's book the apprehension of Bureau higher-ups about the role of HRT. Whitcomb's account calls upon the same pattern. Whitcomb has little patience for decisions made at FBI HQ that run completely against what training and experience have taught him is right (case in point, Ruby Ridge, where the rules of engagement were altered to allow HRT members to shoot anyone with a gun, regardless of whether or not they posed an immediate threat. Thankfully, Whitcomb and his brethren chose to ignore this order). Cold Zero tells more about the HRT than anything I have seen. It is exceptionally well written and leaves the reader wishing Whitcomb had remained with the team. More stories would not have been unappreciated.
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