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The Vista
- A Journey of a Bacha Bazi Boy - Inspired by True Events
- Narrated by: Luke Welland
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
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The Vista
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Summary
Three years after the 9/11 attacks, Mike a staff sergeant in the Army, has command of a squad of 10 soldiers stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan. The squads orders are to protect the Kabul markets as the city comes back to life after years of war. Mike learns of a time honored tradition favored by the Taliban warlords and corrupt businessmen. The buying of “Bacha Batzi Boys”, meaning “Boy Play”, boys trained to entertain for the Taliban warlords. The abused and exploited boys are taken to the caves deep into the Hindu Kush mountains.
Farrin Khan, a gifted Pakistani Doctor, and his American wife Rachel had their lives ripped apart with the disappearances of both their sons. After a desperate search to find them, they are later told by a hired detective that the two are believed to have been abducted and trained to become Bacha Bazi Boys.
Mike, a few hand-chosen men, a sniper from Delta Force, and their trusted bomb-sniffing dog “King”, embark on a thrilling mission across the harsh and snowy conditions of the Hindu Kush mountains. This team of five lead by a Pakistani guide find the cave system searching for the top Taliban leaders. The Commanders watch as scheduled drone surveillance witness the hardships they must endure. Mujahideen Taliban warriors are in pursuit, and just one day behind. Finally, they reach the caves - but it’s not what they expected.
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What listeners say about The Vista
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- LinZ
- 28-01-23
Disappointed
I guess I'm making assumptions about the author because I went to school with a military guy who thought he was the best thing to happen to creative storytelling and wouldn't take corrective criticism from anyone, and thus we were subjected to months of his poorly written manuscript. Reading this gave me flash backs to that guy. The writing is unhoned and clunky. The dialog is written like (I imagine) a military campaign field report (even the civilians talk like little military officers giving reports). Repetition is rampant. Everything from epic battle sequences to the abduction of a child is flat and emotionless. Could the book have been saved by a few good rounds of professional editing? Absolutely! The fact that it's self published doesn't surprise me, and here's where I start to form assumptions about the author bases on my experience with the other guy I knew from school: this is why I picture this author as an arrogant military type strutting around thinking he's the best, most talented writer in the world, asking his buddies and his parents to read his manuscript and "edit" it for him, and then thinking, "Why do I need to pay for a professional editor when my friends and family can do it for free?" Because, you end up with yet another poorly written story and annoyed readers who really want their credits back.
Could it have been saved by a better narrator? We'll never know, but this narrator certainly didn't help. He sounds like Google is reading an appliance manual.
I'm annoyed because this is an important issue that needs to be addressed and needs to be brought to light, and this book just left so much to be desired. At times, it felt like the author was exploiting these boys as much as their captors. The only reason they go looking for the Bacha Bazi boys in the first place is because they think all these Talibam bigwigs will be hiding out wherever the boys are being held (an accurate assumption, true). I don’t know, maybe this was the only way to get the military to sign off on a rescue mission, but it fell flat for me.
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