Fearless

I've never been in the military, but I highly value and respect our military personnel. Unfortunately, the left-wing liberal "drive by" media usually limits their news coverage to sensational stories of injustices, cowardice and body counts. Here is a story of a true military hero, one that understands meaning of human dignity in time of war.

I noticed a complaint about the language. There were less than ten profanities in the 10.5 hour audiobook. Although the writer is not a Christian, he treated the spiritual context with great thoughtfulness, consideration and honesty. Eric Blehm does not shy away one bit from exploring the faith of Adam Brown and the spiritual imprint he left upon those close to him. He chronicles his spiritual journey, which included time at Teen Challenge and his ongoing struggle with addiction. I found it interesting that he mentions one of his friends having been to a Christian commune in Switzerland, La Bri, no doubt.

This is clearly a book that can be shelved with Christian inspiration as well as Guns and Ammo fans. Well written and well read. Highly recommended.

(Posted on 3/18/13)

'Michael’s resonant baritone and Midwestern twang suit the text well.'

© AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

(Posted on 7/12/12)

I thought it was a picture of God's grace. I also like the fact that it was written by what i assume is a non evangelical about and evangelical. There is very little christianese talk in it which is so prevalent in other christian biographies. It a great book for evangelism to non christians. Especially non christian males. Adam was stud!

(Posted on 7/8/12)

This is a very inspiring book that is well narrated by Paul Michael. Don't plan on it being a highly theological book with very carefully articulated doctrinal points. The author is not a Christian (at least wasn't when he wrote the book).

As for the cursing...I was surprised to see that mentioned by one of the commentators. I hardly noticed any...especially since this is a book about a junkie who becomes a Navy Seal. I know there is some, but from what I can remember it is relatively tame and infrequent given the subject matter.

(Posted on 6/19/12)

This book has become one of my favorite books. For a guy, listening to a book about a real hero really hits a masculine hot button. I'm sure that other men will relate to many of the feelings and to varying degrees to the experiences that Adam Brown experienced during his path through life.

Most of us have temptations and sin in our lives and we all have varying success in resisting those temptations. Adam was man enough to tell his family that he wanted his whole story to be told. He wanted the low parts of his life and the unwise decisions to be told along with the good times should he not come back from the conflicts.

It was very interesting to hear stories of the extreme level of training that he and his fellow Seals experience. It takes an incredible person to endure this training. Adam's tenacity was obvious in the extreme while he fought through physical impediments to his goal of becoming part of Seal Team SIX.

Adam's compassion for others was evident in his acts of kindness to the kids that he saw while over in the war zones. After hearing about bad things that some of our soldiers have done which have been unfairly emphasized by the press, I was pleasantly surprised and proud of the rules of engagement which called for women and children to be removed from the middle of the violent action even at the peril of the team that was engaged with the enemy.

Paul Michael does a wonderful job of narrating the book. You really get the feeling that he was part of the action.

Although most know the path that the book is to take, it hits very hard to listen to the life of Adam Brown unfold. We are used to the great ending at the end. Adam's life has indeed come to a great ending. It just is a different ending than you see in the movies.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an inside look at the inner and outer battles that our brave fighting men and women endure when they agree to defend our freedoms.

I received this audio book free from http://christianaudio.com Reviewers Program in exchange for posting a review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

(Posted on 6/6/12)

There was too much cursing in this book especially since it is being promoted in the Christian genre.

(Posted on 6/3/12)

I was given this book by Christianaudio.com in exchange for my honest review. I have a great website about Adam you should go check out, which you will find in my review below.

I am really on the fence over this book. Personally I did not care for the book at all, and it took everything I had in me to finish it. In fact I had a deadline for this review back in May and sadly just couldn't make it on time.

The writing by this author was not very good at all. There was so much information given, sometimes just thrown in randomly, that my head would spin. This would be highly technical information and abbreviations only someone in the military would know or could relate to. (did we really need to know every one of these details to get the basic idea of the story?) If it was a print book I would have had to flip back numerous times just to set the story straight. However, I was listening to a digital recording so that proved to be not very easy. (You should never have to do this if a book is well written.) Many times the story would be rolling along and then in an instant change to something entirely different. Once they were at a funeral rattling off the many accomplishments of the deceased, I think it was Adams funeral actually, and the story stops abruptly mid sentence and goes into Kelly's dialogue. Another time Kelly was getting ready to meet Adams plane in Delaware, and all of a sudden she is in Virginia, or was it Arkansas, with her family. Somehow she got from Delaware to Arkansas with a brief stop in Virginia awfully fast and without any explanation. One minute they were at the funeral, the next they were staring at a vacant piece of land, and then building a house on it. There were so many other instances of this happening all throughout the book from the beginning forward, I couldn't keep track of them all. Characters were introduced at a rapid pace as well and then you would find them popping up later on in the story after completely forgetting about them.

I also got the feeling that Adam was a saint and no other human or SEAL could ever match his accomplishments. Every SEAL goes through the same training. They are the best of the best we are constantly told. So it would seem to me that his grand feats of skill and accomplishments are not unique to only him. But yet we are constantly told how great this man was, and there was no one else on earth like him. Well, that may be true, but there are many people who have accomplished huge things after being addicted to drugs. I felt this book minimizes the accomplishments of so many others who may have come just as far, if not farther. The book also minimizes everything his entire family and friends did for him, and makes them just side characters to "his" story. (yes, I know it IS his story, but the people in his life that affected him the most should not be minimized)

This story moves along very slowly while focusing on his usage of drugs. I quickly grew tired of hearing about the many times he returned to the drug after saying "It won't happen again". He was so determined and strong willed about everything in his life, but yet he couldn't handle the demons calling his name. For a person to be this strong willed and driven I find it hard to believe he would give in so easily. (yes, I know drugs can do that, but the book is pounding his greatness into our heads quite hard that it makes him sound like he should be able to lick the habit instantly)

By the last few chapters I was literally in tears. It is sad to hear how his death went down, and there is room to second guess whether what he did was necessary, or if his death could have perhaps been unavoidable. Was his decision to do what he did made too quickly? And how about all of the soldiers who attempted to save his life? Their story was played down, but they were true heroes too.

Finally, I would like to say that the narrator does a huge disservice to the characters. He speaks well most of the time, but when a female voice came in to play, he was terrible! He gives Adam's mother, sister, and wife a southern drawl like you would not believe. I knew this sounded terrible from the first moment he read their dialogue. I thought to myself "this cannot be how they really sound"! And sure enough, I found an awesome website with an interview video of his friends and family. His mother, sister, and wife DID NOT speak with a heavy southern drawl at all. In fact, they sounded perfectly normal with barely a hint of an Arkansas accent. He gave the women very quiet voices as well, almost a whisper at times. But the most bothersome was the way he read Kelly's thoughts and words. If you watch these video clips you will hear that she comes across much differently, and she would not have said the things in this book the way the narrator reads them. He just really had the female characters all wrong. I believe for Adam, on the other hand, he probably nailed it.

Please check out this website if amazon will let me print it here: http://burnpit.us/2011/09/patriot-profile-adam-brown or you can go to burn pit dot us and put Adam Brown in the search box. It's not one to miss.

Being a tough guy, military story, you can expect there to be some language, although coming from a Christian company it did catch me by surprise when I first heard it. There are quite a few "effing", F-you or somthing like that which are never spoken fully, but said just as I have written it. There are a few Sh!ts or B!tches (I can't remember which one it is now) which are spoken in full.

In the end I am left thinking this guy was the perfect guy, who was the perfect Christian, had the perfect life, the perfect wife, the perfect family, the perfect SEAL team, the perfect childhood, the perfect attitude, the perfect death, the perfect EVERYTHING. He can do no wrong. HE was perfect, and everything he did or touched was perfect. We can only begin to dream to be as worthy, but will fall disgracefully short, and that is how the book will make you feel. Unfortunately the book also makes him out to be a real jerk too.

(Posted on 6/1/12)

I recently listened to Fearless by author Eric Blehm for the christianaudio Reviewers Program (http://christianaudio.com).

What a fabulous book! Author Eric Blehm did a fabulous job in the construction of the life story of Adam Brown, of Seal Team Six, who lost his life fighting for our freedom. Far from the typical plotline found in many books of like genre, the author takes the reader down roads and into areas that would not be expected in the life of one of America’s great heroes. The message of the book is inspirational and exhilarating. It gives incredible hope for the seemingly lost cases in life.

Eric Blehm conveyed not only the human and natural side of this elite Navy seal but also walked one through the process that this man was engaged in while he shifting between interacting with his family, and fulfilling his position as an elite fighter for our country. It is a book with a lot of heart and soul packed tightly into an emotional plotline.

Paul Michael, the narrator, did a great job. His “rougher voice” seemed to add to the experience of listening to this book, and helped create the mental atmosphere of rugged and military terrain.

I was a little surprised to come across swearing and inappropriate language in this book, being that it is marketed in the Christian genre. The language is definitely not what one would expect out of a Christian book, and I believe nothing beneficial would have been lost if it would have been left out.

Overall, this is a mind-stretching and insightful book, the message of which is desperately needed today.

(Posted on 6/1/12)

First off let me say that I'm not an American so the US Navy Seals don't hold the same level of Hero worship for me as they might for others, but nevertheless this was a really interesting listen of one mans journey to becoming a hero, and not just through the sacrifice of his life in service to his country.

What is so important in this story though is that Adam Brown is not immediately whitewashed but rather is portrayed as a very human person who through his own self determination, and that of his family and friends, fought his way from drugs and foolishness into the seals and into the realms of loyalty, honour and conviction through hard work and selfless determination and through his faith commitment too.

It's a story of mistakes and hardship, of having it all and losing it, just to find it again and then make good on it.

It's the story of a hero with a heart and it's a fitting epitaph for a man willing to sacrifice all for his family, his faith and his service.

On the whole the story is well told, the author has written a well researched and interesting book with lots of imput from those that really knew him.

In terms of the Audio Book edition, the narrators voice is for the most part easy to listen to, with good pacing and clear diction.
However when it comes to the womens voices it then degenerates into annoying insipidness and mimicry!

The women he is talking for are strong women, women of real fortitude and moral fibre, women who stand up to, and with, Adam Brown and yet when the narrator speaks for them he turns them into insipid and simpering females due to the way he voices them.
This is a real shame and really detracted from the story for me.

However that aside and despite it, this audio book was well worth the listen, and I feel priviliged to have heard the story of Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Brown.

Due to the narrators jarring reading of the female voices in this audio I feel I can only give this edition 3/5 stars, although the authors work itself is worth 4/5 stars.

I recieved a copy of this audio book as part of the christianaudio.com review program. This has not influenced my review in anyway and this review is entirely based upon my own reaction and impressions from listening to this AudioBook.

(Posted on 5/24/12)

The book’s primary emphasis is on Adam’s life and marriage as a Navy SEAL although his entire life is covered. Adam’s death would come several months before SEAL Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden. Eric Blehm traveled from coast to coast to interview the men of SEAL Team 6 Adam trained with, deployed in combat and socialized with.

Blem’s meticulous, comprehensive research is exemplary. The information Adam’s fellow SEALs were able to provide about training exercises and SEAL deployments is remarkable and the book reflects this. The last operation leading up to and including Adam’s death is as detailed and thorough as it could have been.

Michael’s narration is clear and well-paced albeit undistinguished and the quality of the audio is professional. There is some profanity as one would expect within a group of NAVY Seals though it is on the periphery and not pervasive.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this audio book as part of christianaudio’s review program. I was not required to write a positive review and have been encouraged to give my honest review. These are my own thoughts and opinions.

- Debra

(Posted on 5/22/12)