Skills of the Assassin - Review

The book is:  Skills of the Assassin - Understanding the Tactics of the Professional Killer, by R.J. Godlewski. 

You might be wondering why write a book on the skills of an assassin.  Chapter One answers that question:

Libraries are filled with books on the Assassins, their history, exploits, and even modern video gamers' infatuation with the ancient cult.  However, there remains little discussed on the particular skill sets of an assassin - the modern terrorist, hired killer, or transnational criminal that you are most likely to encounter within the early decades of the 21^st century. (pg 1)

[snip]

As with criminology and terrorism research, the astute analyst and defender must acquire broad knowledge of his or her quarry.  Assassins, though operating within relative rarity confound law enforcement agencies, military officers, and, often, political leaders.  Far too often, academic and popular studies confront the legalities and morality of the field as it assassins themselves consult political polls before they affect their deadly trade.  As a result, few bother to study the techniques and tools of this trade from the purely informational perspective.  (pg 6-7)

Now I know you are intrigued.  Other chapters deal with the mentality of an assassin including social skills (yes social skills);  physical conditioning and disguise;  escape;  target familiarization and weapons smuggling;  international business and money laundering;  communications;  and on and on.

I specifically appreciated that R.J. Godlewski included excerpts from the CIA and al-Qaeda assassination manuals in Chapter Eight.

Although the professional assassin represents an independent contractor, freed from the corralling nature of bureaucracies through innovation and individualistic expediency, much can be learned from those organizations that employ killers on a broader level.  These groups send out their assassins in teams, some comprising quasi-military special units trained to act in unison and even coordinate with others.  Two of these organizations bear scrutiny within the study of individual professional killers.  The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) comes first and has largely been restricted from the use of assassination as a tool since the 1970's.  The other group remains al-Qaeda, the now ideological, all-encompassing name affixed to any number of jihadist individuals and groups that support the beliefs of the late Osama Bin Laden. (pg 87)

Anyone interested in the state of the world these days, should be interested in a fully-stocked library on Islam, the Middle East, counterterrorism, military, politics, ... and this book,  Skills of the Assassin, would make a great addition to that library or a gift for someone else.

Purchase at Amazon.com here.