RANGER GAMES: A STORY OF SOLDIERS, FAMILY AND AN INEXPLICABLE CRIME
By Ben Blum
I received Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime as a Goodreads giveaway. Oddly enough, I first saw the book cover when it was advertised at my local indie book store, and I told a friend then that I would probably never read that book because the cover didn’t appeal to me at all. Later, after having actually read the cover, I decided it sounded interesting after all, and I was excited when I won a copy from Goodreads and Doubleday.
I was immediately fascinated by the promise of the true story of a young man, Alex Blum, who had dreamed his entire life of becoming an elite Army Ranger. He fulfilled his goal and successfully went through the rigorous training required. Inexplicably, immediately after completing training and right before he went on leave prior to deployment to Iraq, he, along with two fellow Rangers and two others, robbed a bank in Tacoma, WA, effectively ending the career he had dreamed of and worked so hard to reach.
The book was written by Alex’s cousin, Ben Blum. I was initially intrigued by this fact, yet I also assumed the author would soften the realities of the situation and his cousin’s behavior based on their relationship. Indeed, Ben Blum’s own feelings about his cousin and his actions were a huge part of the direction of the story, but not exactly in the way I expected. Not particularly close as children, the cousins had little in common growing up. Ben was a mathematical genius, a “geek” by his own description, and Alex was the beloved, almost perfect son, a handsome, popular hockey star who was genuinely kind and loving to his friends, family and everyone, and who above all else, dreamed of and spent his life training for service to his country as a Ranger. When the unimaginable happened and Alex was convicted of his part in an armed bank robbery, Ben set out to find out what had gone so terribly wrong with this golden boy and his dream.
In the course of the book, Ben discusses their family dynamics and through years of research and interviews with Alex and friends, family, and another Ranger whose influence and direction would change that person’s and Alex’s lives forever, Ben uncovers a myriad of stories, about both the tight military code and training regimen of the Army Rangers and the minds of two very young members of that elite military group. Throughout the story, Ben lets us know how much he wants his cousin to be the good guy that he had always been up to that fateful day, but he is also focused on getting to the truth of a very complex set of circumstances which involve detailed theories of brainwashing. I felt for Ben throughout; at times he seemed extremely sympathetic to Alex’s plight and at times he was immensely confused, frustrated and angry, even as he tried to be cold and clinical during his research for the book. These feelings were so honest; he pulled no punches to keep from softening the reader toward his cousin, but he was fair to Alex, as well.
I began the book with much enthusiasm. I must admit that at Chapter 6, I became increasingly annoyed with pages of detailed discussion of math vs. the humanities and their relationship to war. I freely admit I finally skipped the remainder of that chapter. I may go back and read it now that I’ve finished the book, to see if possibly it would have added something to my reading. By the time I was halfway through the book, my enthusiasm again blossomed and I was fascinated by the rest of the details and Ben Blum’s writing.
Ben delves deeply into the human mind as it relates to Alex and one of his fellow Rangers, and as the final half of the book progressed, I began forming my own ideas and theories as to how and why things unfolded as they did, and at last many of the questions posed throughout are answered, at least to a great extent. I give huge credit to the author for sticking with the enormous and perplexing task of writing this very personal story. It was fascinating and insightful, on many levels.
Thanks so much to Goodreads and Doubleday for the giveaway.
Reviewed August 2017
House of Black and Blue 