Bomb Squad (2007)

Bomb Squad's authors followed the New York City Bomb Squad for a year, leading up to the unit's largest, most potentially dangerous assignment of 2004: the Republican National Convention. In the end, they write, ''The best outcome of all occurred. Nothing happened.'' As an American, I'm happy. As a reader, though, I'm bored. Richard Esposito and Ted Gerstein supply intriguing details about the history of terrorism in New York — like the '70s bombing campaign by Fuerzas Armadas Liberacion Nacional, an extremist gang dedicated to Puerto Rican independence. But there's not enough focus on the brave individuals in the squad. Far too much of the book is devoted to routine calls to uncover hoax devices or suspicious packages containing nothing more than dirty clothes. B-