The 15:17 to Paris

The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes

By: Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone, Jeffrey E. Stern

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

An ISIS terrorist planned to kill more than 500 people. He would have succeeded, except for three American friends who refused to give in to fear.

On August 21, 2015, Ayoub El-Khazzani boarded train #9364 in Brussels, bound for Paris. There could be no doubt about his mission: He had an AK-47, a pistol, a box cutter, and enough ammunition to obliterate every passenger on board. Slipping into the bathroom in secret, he armed his weapons. Another major ISIS attack was about to begin. Khazzani wasn't expecting Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Spencer Stone.

Stone was a martial arts enthusiast and airman first class in the US Air Force, Skarlatos was a member of the Oregon National Guard, and all three were fearless. But their decision - to charge the gunman, then overpower him even as he turned first his gun, then his knife, on Stone - depended on a lifetime of loyalty, support, and faith. Their friendship was forged as they came of age together in California: going to church, playing paintball, teaching each other to swear, and sticking together when they got in trouble at school. Years later, that friendship would give all of them the courage to stand in the path of one of the world's deadliest terrorist organizations.

The 15:17 to Paris is an amazing true story of friendship and bravery, of near tragedy averted by three young men who found the heroic unity and strength inside themselves at the moment when they, and 500 other innocent travelers, needed it most.

©2016 Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone (P)2016 Hachette Audio

On The Edge Of My Seat

Great book, it's not just the story (amazing as it is) it's the way you flow back and forth from one person's thoughts to the next. Love it, I couldn't stop listening

Cool story but narration was blah

I liked the story (who wouldn't?) but found the narration to be very monotone. It seemed easier to listen to at 1.25 speed.

Great story!

Great story! Well written ! Thoroughly enjoyed! Listened while driving on vacation road trip! Thanks!

Never Forget

A story of four people that stood against Terrorism. Although the book doesn't spend much time talking about the British guy that took a bullet in the beginning of the fight, he was there and was part of it too. I imagine he chose not to be mentioned much in the book and therefore, all the more reason for me to mention him here.

We need more people that are willing to take action against deadly threats and less people so quick to hide under their seats. For all the folks that were cowering in back of train... especially after 9/11, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You were livestock just waiting to be slaughtered and counting on someone else to put their life on the line to save you. If you're going to die, at least do it on your feet fighting.

The writing was great, the narration... ok. I usually listen to audio books with no adjustment to the speed, but this one needed to be cranked up to plus 1.40% effectively shorting my listening time. I enjoy listening to books and am not trying to blow through them as fast as I can, so this was less than ideal for me.

All's good at the office of the weather and climat

All's good in Tampa on your response to the weather and climate and climate change the birthday wishes

Unbelievable - and yet it actually happened.

People have criticized this book/audiobook for jumping back and forth from past events in the young men's lives to snippets of the confrontation with the terrorist, but the method really works for a story like this. In the first chapter, told from Anthony's perspective, the book describes the sheer surreal quality of the encounter with the terrorist; how each of them suffered brief periods of amnesia as a rare physiological effect of the experience and were not able to form an accurate chronological sequence immediately after. I have also watched the movie, and Eastwood takes a similar approach - jumping back and forth so that the audience is given explanations for exactly how these heroes came to be where they where when they were needed most, and came to possess all the necessary skills to ensure there were no fatalities that day.
As Alek sits on the station bench when it is all over, when the terrorist is being carried away by the police and Spencer is being taken to the hospital, he reflects on the truly unbelievable series of coincidences, beginning in their childhoods, that led them all to be on the train that day. A man of faith, he can clearly see God's hand at work. I think anyone who reads/listens to this book might find it hard to deny that there was quite a bit of divine intervention in these men's lives, starting years before they boarded that train, and not ending with the arrest of the terrorist who came so close to killing 500+ people.
As one of my old teachers once said: There is something to be said for being in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, for the right reasons. The world would be a better place if there were more men like this in it.

It was just "Meh"

I decided to give this a listen because Clint Eastwood bought the movie rights. That said the story was just " meh".

great Americans

Hearing the story of these guys and their background was great. The author uses so many flashbacks the story is hard to follow. When you read a story like this, there is usually a new chapter or and extra indemtation or two to indicate a cganhe in scene. None of that on the audible version leaves the listener playing catch up too many times.

Interesting story but too much jumping around.

I’m fine with a story jumping between different time periods, but this book takes it to the extreme. Even when telling the modern day story, it tells it completely out of order. This makes it frustrating to figure out exactly what happened. If the timeline was better executed, then I would have liked this book a lot more because the actual story is very interesting.

Nail biting. Well written, Great Book. love it!!

loved it. It was so well written I can picture everything happening. Thank you for your bravness!