Adam Brown’s life ended in an iso­lated mil­i­tary clinic in the moun­tains of Afghanistan, his body rid­dled with AK-47 bul­let holes from Tal­iban mili­tia. How­ever, Adam Brown’s legacy lives on, described in his biog­ra­phy by author Eric Blehm. The book, Fear­less, released today (May 22) is a mov­ing account of the strug­gles, redemp­tion, and sac­ri­fice of Adam Brown.

Book Review of Fear­less, by Eric Blehm

• Title:  Fear­less:  The Undaunted Courage and Ulti­mate Sac­ri­fice of Navy SEAL Team Six Oper­a­tor Adam Brown
• Author:  Eric Blehm
• Audio Nar­ra­tor:  Paul Michael
• Pub­lisher:  Water­brook Press
• Date:  May 22, 2012
• Length:  272 pages, 10.33 hours

Adam Brown was a Navy SEAL oper­a­tor serv­ing in Afghanistan with the elite DEVGRU team, oth­er­wise known as SEAL Team Six — the group that took out Osama bin Laden. Brown’s jour­ney to the top tier of mil­i­tary excel­lence is the story of a small-town Amer­i­can boy with a pen­chant for reck­less­ness, an addic­tion to hard drugs, and a com­plete lack of fear.

Brown’s life was changed when he met Jesus in a grimy Arkansas jail cell. His prob­lems didn’t dis­ap­pear. But his sin­ful heart was changed, and his life would take a totally dif­fer­ent direction.

Fear­less chron­i­cles the life of Adam Brown — from hum­ble birth to tragic death. The book tells the story of his wife’s courage and per­sis­tant love. The book com­mu­ni­cates the hero­ism of SEAL Team Six. The book con­veys the pathos of war. Most impor­tantly, Fear­less shows how the love of Jesus can change a sinner’s heart.

Thoughts on Fear­less

• Eric Blehm writes a good biog­ra­phy. He may lack the pol­ish of an Erik Lar­son (Gar­den of the Beasts), but his style is sim­ple and com­pelling. The power of his writ­ing is its research and accu­racy. Blehm set out to write a straight­for­ward biog­ra­phy, not a sen­sa­tional bestseller.
• Adam Brown’s life is an inspi­ra­tion. Ever since I was a kid, I cher­ished dreams of join­ing the Marines or Navy SEALs, just to prove to myself that I was pow­er­ful and capa­ble. I’m prob­a­bly not going to be head­ing into BUDS train­ing, but I appre­ci­ated read­ing about some­one who did. Adam Brown was the best of the best (SEAL) of the best (DEVGRU), work­ing against unbe­liev­able oppo­si­tion and over­com­ing incred­i­ble obsta­cles to get there.
• Brown wasn’t just a meat­head and mil­i­tary machine. He was a com­pas­sion­ate human­i­tar­ian, a devoted hus­band and father, and a dis­ci­ple of Jesus. I appre­ci­ated his acts of kind­ness toward the Afghan chil­dren, and his brave wit­ness­ing to hard­ened SEALs.
• I’m thank­ful for our mil­i­tary. While I am not a fan of the ra-ra-beat-em-up-kill-em-all-send-em-to-hell approach to our nation’s defense, I do appre­ci­ate those who serve in the armed forces. I am espe­cially thank­ful for those, like Adam Brown, who bring com­pas­sion and matu­rity to their task.
• Most impor­tantly, I mar­vel at the grace of God. Eric Brown’s life, just as it is with any­one who has been redeemed, is a tes­ta­ment to God’s infi­nite love and kind­ness. I was encour­aged to be a chan­nel of this kind­ness to oth­ers, and a faith­ful wit­ness of his gospel. There are Eric Browns all around us. They need Jesus, not our judg­ment. They need grace.

I encour­age you to read Fear­less for its beau­ti­ful dis­play of God’s grace, and its com­pelling story of sac­ri­fice and courage.

• See the book on Amazon.
• See the book on Christianaudio.
• Lis­ten to a free inter­view with the author.
• Read the first chap­ter for free.

Dis­clo­sure of Mate­r­ial Con­nec­tion: I received this review copy for free as part of the chris­tianau­dio Review­ers Pro­gram of christianaudio.com. I was not required to write a pos­i­tive review. The opin­ions I have expressed are my own. I am dis­clos­ing this in accor­dance with the Fed­eral Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Con­cern­ing the Use of Endorse­ments and Tes­ti­mo­ni­als in Advertising.”