Eight Lives Down: The Story of a Counter- Terrorist Bomb-Disposal Operators' Tour in Iraq

Visceral and compelling, Eight Lives Down is the most exciting and nerve-jangling work of military non-fiction since Bravo Two Zero . If fate is against me and I’m killed, so be it, but make it quick and painless. If I’m wounded, don’t let me be crippled. But above all, don’t let me fuck up the task. So goes the bomb technician’s prayer before every bomb he defuses. For Chris Hunter, it is a prayer he says many times during his four-month tour of Iraq. His is the most dangerous job in the world — to make safe the British sector in Iraq against some of the most hardened and technically advanced terrorists in the world. It is a 24/7 job — in the first two months alone, his team defuses over 45 bombs. And the people they’re up against don’t play by the Geneva Convention. For them, there are no rules, only results — death by any means necessary. The job of a Bomb Disposal officer is a lonely one. You are alone with the sound of your own breathing and the drumming of your heart in a protective suit in forty-plus degrees of heat. The drawbridge has been pulled up behind you as you advance on your goal. It’s just you and the bomb. But for Chris Hunter, just when life couldn’t get any more dangerous, the stakes are raised again. From the Hardcover edition. SEARING HEAT You have the most dangerous job in the world's most dangerous place. You are responsible for bomb disposal in the British sector of Iraq.You are the last defence against oblivion. And it's already a hundred degrees in the shade. , COLD FEAR You are up against some of the most sophisticated bombmakers in the world. They don't play by the rules of the Geneva Convention. Nothing but your own wits will save you. You're on your own. SILENCE Now is the moment of truth. All you can hear is the sound of your own blood pounding through your veins. This could be your last moment on earth. IT'S JUST YOU AND THE BOMB You have the most dangerous job in the world's most dangerous place. You are responsible for bomb disposal in the British sector of Iraq. You are the last defence against oblivion. And it's already a hundred degrees in the shade.