The Bomb Doctor

A Scientist's Story of Bombers, Beakers, and Bloodhounds

By: Kirk Yeager, Selene Yeager

Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

This is not CSI. What you encounter as a true bomb detective-or "Bomb Doctor," as some in the FBI call me-are fields of twisted metal containing soot-covered fragments intermingled with human remains. You have carnage and chaos. As you wade into that sea of wailing sirens and screaming survivors awash with the stench of diesel fuel and decaying bodies, your job is to ferret out forensic clues in a type of macabre scavenger hunt to ultimately reconstruct the scene and the explosive device and determine what happened and what the bomb looked like before it was torn asunder.

The scavenger hunt can take months-or, in the case of the infamous Collar Bomber, seven painstaking years. The work is worth every second and every horrific image that etches itself into your brain because it helps prevent new horrors. Not all, obviously. We are not superheroes. But unlike shooters, who often just "snap" or seem to act out in random ways, bombers almost always have a story-one that follows an arc.

In The Bomb Doctor, my goal is to explain that arc, explode myths, reconstruct reality, and build an understanding of the reason and means behind the mayhem, as well as pull back the curtain on the investigative process that brings bombers to justice.

©2024 Kirk Yeager and Selene Yeager (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

This is the REAL deal

nonfiction, snarky, situational-humor, investigations, investigators, international-tensions, international-crimes, interpreter, interstate-crimes, FBI, federal-agents, firebombing, bombing, science-nerd, scientific-method, scientist, assassinations, scent-dog, frustration, politics*****

This is how things happen in REAL life, not REEL life. No speed-up to get things accomplished in the 45 minutes (60 minus times for commercials) per episode. This is a science nerd's view of selected calls out to do the intricate forensic examinations necessary following bombings at home and around the globe regardless of the pervading politics. Yeager is a Forensic Examiner in explosives and hazardous devices and is currently the Senior Explosives Scientist. His humor is as good as his credentials, and I have already bought the audio and recommended the print to others.
Paul Bellantoni is an excellent voice actor who gives a meaningful interpretation and delivers the snarks very well, thank you!
I requested and received (after I preordered a copy!) a free temporary audio copy from HighBridge Audio via NetGalley. Thank you.

Great storytelling. interesting perspective.

A candid perspective of historical bombing, and bombing related events. This book provides an easy to follow, seasoned with wit and fascinating details, of the FBI’s Senior Explosives Scientist.

The down-to-earth accounts of sentiment that followed many high profile events provides a humanizing look at the Bureau, its scientists, bomb technicians, and others during their responses and investigations.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would have been like to be a “fly on the wall” when an examiner would toil through an investigation of a bombing, this is about as close as you will get.