Blood & Sand cover art

Blood & Sand

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Blood & Sand

By: Frank Gardner
Narrated by: Alistair Petrie
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.77

Buy Now for £13.77

Summary

 On June 6th 2004, in a quiet suburb of Riyadh, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were filming a programme on al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia when they were ambushed by Islamic gunmen. Simon was killed outright. Frank was shot and lay pleading for his life. A figure pumped four more bullets into his body at point blank range. Against all the odds, he survived. This is the remarkable account of his agonising journey to where he is today.© Frank Gardner; (P)Oakhill Publishing Ltd Middle East Saudi Arabia Africa Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking Iran Funny
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

"[Gardner's] terrible experience only makes his analysis all the more telling." ( Evening Standard)
"He paints his love affair with the Middle East in vivid terms. His struggle with paraplegia as a result of his wounds has not diminished his affection for the area." ( The Herald)
All stars
Most relevant
Consummately well read, the book grabs you from the first scene - the shooting of Frank Gardner and his cameraman in Saudi Arabia. There are many other almost equally impactful passages, especially near the end of the book when Gardner describes, unsparingly but always with great courage, his medical treatment and the effects of the shooting on his life. However, equally valuable is the picture he paints of the Middle East, depictions of Arab countries and cultures generally unfamiliar to Westerners which he gained access by his fluency in Arabic and his thirst to know and experience them as much as possible from the inside.

Gardner ends his book hoping he may have contributed in some measure to a wider appreciation and understanding of the Arab world by these 'insider' portraits, and personally I felt he had opened windows and illuminated ideas which previously I had only dimly considered - in connection with spinal injury as well as with the Middle East. It is an absorbing, many-facetted book which I totally recommend.

gripping and enlightening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I downloaded this after seeing a recent BBC 2 documentary in which Frank Gardner presented the trials and tribulations of his life since the Riyadh shooting. I have always enjoyed his insights into security issues in general and his knowledge and understanding of the Middle East Region. Blood & Sand is an excellent autobiography; it is very well written and very well narrated. I learned a lot more about what has been going on in the Middle East in the past 30 years and found Frank Gardner's description of what happened to him and Simon Cumbers difficult to listen to because of the awfulness of it all and incredibly moving in terms of the aftermath. Definitely worth listening to.

Excellent Audio Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this book is one of my favourite audio books and well worth a listen x

brilliant book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook as it informed me not just the biography of the excellent journalist Frank Gardner but an insight into the true life of ordinary friendly people trapped by the current hostilities as much as the rest of the world fears terrorism.

An excellent honest account

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
perfectly written and read.......this is probably the most interesting, captivating and absorbing audiobook I've listened to...would highly recommend.

Brilliant...!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews