Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime - Softcover

Blum, Ben

3.65

1,181 ratings by Goodreads

9780525528128: Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0525528121 ISBN 13: 9780525528128

Publisher: Random House Large Print, 2017

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"A gloriously good writer...Ranger Games is both surprising and moving...A memorable, novelistic account."—Jennifer Senior, New York Times

Intricate, heartrending, and morally urgent, Ranger Games is a crime story like no other

Alex Blum was a good kid, a popular high school hockey star from a tight-knit Colorado family. He had one goal in life: endure a brutally difficult selection program, become a U.S. Army Ranger, and fight terrorists for his country. He poured everything into achieving his dream. In the first hours of his final leave before deployment to Iraq, Alex was supposed to fly home to see his family and beloved girlfriend. Instead, he got into his car with two fellow soldiers and two strangers, drove to a local bank in Tacoma, and committed armed robbery...
The question that haunted the entire Blum family was: Why? Why would he ruin his life in such a spectacularly foolish way?
At first, Alex insisted he thought the robbery was just another exercise in the famously daunting Ranger program. His attorney presented a case based on the theory that the Ranger indoctrination mirrored that of a cult.
In the midst of his own personal crisis, and in the hopes of helping both Alex and his splintering family cope, Ben Blum, Alex’s first cousin, delved into these mysteries, growing closer to Alex in the process. As he probed further, Ben began to question not only Alex, but the influence of his superior, Luke Elliot Sommer, the man who planned the robbery. A charismatic combat veteran, Sommer’s manipulative tendencies combined with a magnetic personality pulled Ben into a relationship that put his loyalties to the test.

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Review:

An Amazon Best Book of September 2017: Ranger Games is a true crime novel that reads like a binge-worthy television show. Ben Blum, like most of his family, was shocked by the actions of his cousin and proud Army Ranger, Alex Blum. On a final leave before deployment, rather than going home to spend time with his family, Alex jumps in a car and drives to Tacoma, WA where he and four others (two of which he didn't know) rob a bank. Was it a training gone wrong or a cry for help yelled from a seemingly perfect exterior? Blum's deep research, crafted storytelling, and seamless writing style will have you sucked in from the start and wanting more when you finish. --Penny Mann

About the Author:

BEN BLUM was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He holds a PhD in computer science from the University of California Berkeley, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and an MFA in fiction from New York University, where he was awarded the New York Times Foundation Fellowship. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and stepdaughter.

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