• Left of Boom

  • How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and Al-Qaeda
  • By: Douglas Laux, Ralph Pezzullo
  • Narrated by: Mike Dawson
  • Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,288 ratings)

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Left of Boom  By  cover art

Left of Boom

By: Douglas Laux,Ralph Pezzullo
Narrated by: Mike Dawson
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Publisher's summary

The explosive New York Times best seller!

On September 11, 2001, Doug Laux was a freshman in college, on the path to becoming a doctor. But with the fall of the Twin Towers came a turning point in his life. After graduating, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, determined to get himself to Afghanistan and into the center of the action. Through persistence and hard work, he was fast-tracked to a clandestine operations position overseas. Dropped into a remote region of Afghanistan, he received his baptism by fire.

Frustrated by bureaucratic red tape, a widespread lack of knowledge of the local customs and culture, and an attitude of complacency that hindered his ability to combat the local Taliban, Doug confounded his peers by dressing like a native and mastering the local dialect, making contacts, and building sources within several deadly terrorist networks. His new approach resulted in unprecedented successes, including uncovering the largest IED network in the world, responsible for killing hundreds of US soldiers.

Meanwhile, Doug had to keep up false pretenses with his family, girlfriend, and friends - nobody could know what he did for a living - and deal with the emotional turbulence of constantly living a lie. His double life was building to an explosive resolution, with repercussions that would have far reaching consequences.

©2016 Douglas Laux (P)2016 Douglas Laux

What listeners say about Left of Boom

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too Censerord to be Enjoyable

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I don't know if I like this audiobook or not because I was too annoying by the censorship.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The narrator informs you that because this is a book about the CIA certain parts have been removed and replaced with classical music on the behest of the CIA. What the narrator neglects to tell you is that these removed sections account for about 20% of the entire book. It's annoying, immediately annoying.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator was fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Annoyance.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story - Overly Redacted

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bossman. Bossman is wise and well spoken and is the sage archtype most people can find in their own organization. The guy who should be in charge of everything, but usually isn't.

Have you listened to any of Mike Dawson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

It was pretty good. He applied good effort for the Pashto, but got a few military words wrong. Overall, better than most I have heard.

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

I loved the story. I wanted to smash my phone in the middle of the book because there were so many parts that were redacted. It was silly.
The description of the SEALs (Scorpions) was pretty accurate. They are toolbags.

Any additional comments?

To cope with the redaction, apply the following:
Foreign country/border = Pakistan
Foreign Intelligence Agency = Pakistani ISI
Foreign financing = Saudi involvement

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Frustratingly [REDACTED]

In places it is more [REDACTED] music than story, to the point and it is [REDACTED] impossible to follow.
What's the point of writing a book that will be [REDACTED] to illegibility?

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • PT
  • 07-02-16

Just so you know.

I've listened to other books that have redacted content. When one of those sections was reached by the narrator, an overview of the redacted content was addressed and the narration moved on. Here you are treated to music for the duration of the missing content. This is just a guess as I didn't time these sections or the bumper music between chapters or the twelve second dead space's following those, but my guess is that the reader is getting about eight hours of content. Loved the story. Tied several things together from other things I've read. This isn't about the content. It's about heavily padding the time. You (redacted) been warned!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

Simply fascinating, personal, and flat out interesting. This is the first audiobook I've listened to with Dawson as the reader... He's perfect! Laterhosen

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Redacted

Fantastic narration by Mike Dawson! Story is good, but listening to a lot of redacted material can be tiresome.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Unfinished

Parts are entertaining but this book is unfinished and leaves way to much blank. Even with the explication given about sensitive info. The comment about Tim Hortons being Canadas McDonald's left me puzzled!
Author's ego shines through, this book would get a better rating i am sure if they would have cleaned up some of the missing dialog or reworded it so it was admissible.

Entertaining but unfinished

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

too much redaction

very frustrating listen. while I understand the CIA needing to protect their interests, this book is not worth a credit

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Redacted

Would have been nice to know that so much of this book had been redacted prior to purchasing. It's pretty annoying that every minute or so classical music is playing to fill in the words blanked out of the book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic book

Loved the book! Amazing job by Mike Dawson narrating and even better story. If only we could hear the redacted portions.

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2 people found this helpful