For something slightly different this week, I have read a fascinating novel about the hunt for a (fictional) Al-Qaeda sniper in Iraq in 2006. The story starts with a place I know very well - the Bosnia of Bugojno and Gornji Vakuf in 1993 - and then moves to Iraq over a decade later. This is the second book by ex-SAS A Squadron officer ‘Scott Leigh’ and is a rattling good read, proving once again that Army officers make great writers! Old soldiers like myself, who are typically very picky about describing the colour of real military experience (as opposed to fictionalised), will spot that he describes those wars - and soldiering - exceptionally well.
Published by the excellent Chiselbury, this should be on everyone’s summer reading list.
Incidentally, if you want to get a sense of what a mujaheddin’s life was like in Bosnia and Afghanistan there’s no better place than Aimen Dean’s Nine Lives, which I can also heartily recommend. Aimen must be one of the bravest men I’ve ever met.
Happy reading!
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