Customer Reviews
Lost a bit of respect for the brothers 
2008-10-07
I have been a fan of Deadliest Catch since roughly the second season. For the most part, I liked the Hillstrand Brothers (though Capt Phil and the Cornelia Marie crew are my favorites). I was very excited to find an autographed copy of the Hillstrand's book at my local B&N. Though it offered some entertaining stories, I must say I was disappointed in the book as a whole. The narrative is very choppy and hard to follow. It jumps back and forth from Jonathan being stranded at sea, to Andy on the farm waiting to hear from him, to both of them reflecting on their pasts. I don't blame the Hillstrands for this (I don't expect crab fisherman to be great writers) as much as I do their editor/ghostwriter. Surely he or she could have done a better job.
For me, the most disappointing aspect of reading this book was how much respect I lost for the Hillstrand brothers. By their own admissions and through their own words, Jonathan comes across as the perpetual child who refuses to grow up. He wastes his money on women and booze and doesn't spend a lot of time with his son (but expects him to take over the family business someday). Though he says he treats women well, he seems to have an almost annoyed, even hostile attitude towards those like Andy and (Jonathan's) son Scott, who have or seek to have a stable family life. For his part, Andy comes across as the perpetual enabler who is always bailing his brother out of trouble. I have to say the book as a whole left me feeling a bit cold towards the brothers. I will definately watch them differently when they're on the show in the future.
If you love Deadliest Catch 
2008-09-11
If you love Deadliest Catch and the Hillstrand brothers you will really enjoy this book. They are my favorite captains on the show becuase of thier sense of humor.
Sit in your armchair and feel the salt spray chill your face... 2008-09-10
There is no question that Time Bandit finds an eager audience among fans of the American TV show "Deadliest Catch," but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book stands up well on its own as an entertaining and informative read. The brothers Hillstrand have a pirate's lode of great fishing stories, but the book doesn't stop there. These men are also admirably candid about their personal histories and the tough issues they deal with on land (families, obligations, personal demons, compliance with fishing regulations, outfitting for the next fishing run, hiring/firing crew, etc).
The first and dominant voice in the narrative is Johnathan Hillstrand whose delivery struck me as egotistical and arrogant to the point that I almost didn't stick around to give the book a chance--but I'm glad I did. After all, the book opens with the "bad boy of the Bering Sea" perilously adrift and alone, and even if he does seem a bit full of himself, I wanted to see how he would get out of his dire predicament. His life-threatening situation serves as the literary focus to reflect on his life--kind of a slow-motion version of seeing your lifetime pass before your eyes before you die. Thus unfolds Johnathan's entertaining story, reminiscences of his life, interspersed with the narrative of his brother Andy and the fellow fishermen who eventually rescue him.
At first, I thought the writing style was too unpolished and the tone overbearingly arrogant but as I got to "know" Johnathan better, and then his brother Andy, I decided to cut them some slack. After all, if fishermen were born to be writers, they wouldn't be fishermen, and vice versa (with the exception of Linda Greenlaw who is both a good writer and fisherman). Thankfully, the authors enlisted the help of seasoned writer Malcolm MacPherson who I presume is responsible for making a cohesive work from two lifetimes of harrowing stories. More effort in that direction would have further improved the book.
Time Bandit is great entertainment. Tales of near death, living on the edge, the roughness of life on sea and land, gave me a great escape into a world I could never approach in my real life. I take points off for the literary weakness of the book which is apparently aimed at the established TV audience as a "mixed media" marketing effort. When the TV show eventually ends and the DVD market is sated, the book will not have much literary quality to sustain it as a book alone.
Sharing similarities with Time Bandit in ocean-going subject matter, here are a few recommendations which are stronger literary works: _The Hungry Ocean_ and _The Lobster Chronicles_ by Linda Greenlaw, _The Perfect Storm_ by Sebastian Junger, _Hen Frigates_ by Joan Druett, and _Cod_ by Mark Kurlansky.
Great book 
2008-09-08
This book can hardly be laid down, which is surprising for its genre. It was received in the condition advertised.
Crab fishing. 2008-09-07
I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and very informative. I watch Deadliest Catch every day, and can't wait for the new season to start. Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand are to be commended for getting this book published. They are my favorite fishermen and I really like the crew also. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is excellent. I loved each and every word and could not in all honesty put this book down. I think I read this most excellent book faster and in a shorter time then any book I have read, and I have read hundreds of different books in my adult life. If you like the show, you MUST get this book.
Time Bandit 2008-09-01
“Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep, so beware, beware,” goes the chorus of an old sailors’ sing-along that celebrates the allure and danger of the seafaring life. But make no mistake–there truly is much to beware for those who are drawn to risk their lives and seek their fortunes upon the waves. And perhaps none take more chances than the men and women who brave the tempestuous, bountiful waters of the Bering Sea. Season after season, they bond and battle with its icy depths, determined to reap yet one more rewarding harvest while eluding the ever-present threat of sudden, certain death. And among the rapidly diminishing ranks of these die-hard salts, brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand have forged a reputation as fierce masters of their treacherous, enthralling trade. If you’ve watched their exploits on TV’s Deadliest Catc
h, you’ve only scratched the surface. To read Time Bandit is to step into their skins, smell the sea air, feel the frigid wind, and know with all your senses the exhilarating, and terrifying life on the edge.
Natives of tiny, fishing hamlet, Homer, Alaska; sons of a hard-bitten, highly successful fisherman; and born with brine in their blood, the Hillstrand boys couldn’t imagine a life without a swaying deck underfoot and a harvest of mighty Alaskan king crabs waiting to be pulled from the ocean floor. In pursuit of their daily catch, the brothers brave ice floes and heaving waves 60 feet high, the perils of 1000-lb steel traps thrown about by the punishing wind, and the constant menace of the open, hungry water.
Even the brothers’ downtime on land–where the deadly realities of the unforgiving sea are never far from their minds–is lived as if borrowed: fast and hard, haunted by the knowledge that the next season at sea could end asleep in the deep.
Here is the Hillstrands’ own heartfelt hymn to the brutally hard, gloriously independent, and mysteriously soul-satisfying life that has earned them their daily bread and defined their existence. By turns raucous and reflective, exhilarating and anguished, enthralling, suspenseful, and wise, Time Bandit chronicles a larger-than-life love affair as old as civilization itself–a love affair between striving, willful man and inscrutable, enduring nature.
Time Bandit: Two Brothers,the Bering Sea and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs 2008-08-31
I am a huge fan of the TV series The Deadliest Catch. Therefore, I thought I would really enjoy this book by the Hilstrand brothers. Unfortunately, the author who helped write the book, uses language you would never hear the brothers speak! The stories they were telling were interesting but the language/descriptions of events just weren't realistic! I do not reccomend it unless it can be bought used for a buck or two. (I purchased a new hardback copy)
This Book is a Deadly Catch 2008-08-27
Whether you are a fan of the show or have never heard of the Bering Sea let alone the successful series, this book is a must. Written by two captains of the show, they share their lives from when they were kids to the present day. The book will, like the crab pots they use, ensnare you and hold you captive until the end. It is a fantastic read of what really happens to crab fishermen and what they go through to give us that sort after delicacy on the restaurant table. If you have seen the show, then this book is a must as the book is more realistic and more gritty. If you have not, then read the book anyway, just to get an insight of a day in the life of a crab fisherman.
Time Bandit: Two brothers on the Bering Sea 2008-08-15
One of the best books I have read in a very long time. I couldn't put it down!! If you are a fan of the Hillstrands and of the series "The Deadliest Catch", you will absolutely love this candid look into the world of crab fishing on the Bering Sea--one of the world's deadliest occupations. Johnathan and Andy share an intimate account of their personal and professional lives in a way no one else can. I can't recommend this book more highly.
An interesting adjunct to the TV show... 2008-08-15
Die-hard fans of Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch will enjoy this book. It's a sort of dual biography of Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand, and it fills in many of the details the show has never discussed. Their complex relationship with their father, how they came to own the Time Bandit, the nature of their business partnership, etc., are all detailed. The book has an interesting structure, with chapters alternating between Johnathan and Andy, as Jonathan drifts alone on a disabled small fishing boat.
That structure is clearly the work of their co-author, Malcolm MacPherson. In fact, it would be much more accurate to say the book is "by Malcolm MacPherson, based on interviews with Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand" than to say, as it does on the cover, that it's "by Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand, with Malcolm MacPherson."
This is made clear right from the first page. Anyone who's watched the TV show knows that the Hillstrands have distinct manners of speaking, and they are not formal, nearly academic manners. MacPherson writes the brothers' chapters in a single, formal voice-- which is clearly his-- with occasional bits of each brother's actual words thrown in. At times, the effect is almost comical.
I would have preferred that the book be written in the brothers' distinctive and authentic voices. However, having said that, the book is an entertaining page-turner as it is. In addition, it contains a large amount of information about crab biology and behavior, the economics and politics of the fishing industry, and the difficulties of remaining in a business that is rapidly industrializing.
I enjoyed the book a great deal. It's a quick read that will please any fan of the Hillstrands and the TV show.
