Bob Shepherd

The Good Jihadist by Bob Shepherd

A superb SIS thriller set around the double dealing grey ops of a covert and private military contractor team that is ensconced in the maddening mire of maintaining the conflict in Pakistan. Absolutely absorbing, this page turning twister introduces the western reader to some of the complexities of the Pakistan internal and Afghan border conflict and the sovereignty aims of some including, the Pashtun, Baluch and BLA and the confident corruption of all involved, including hopeful foreign puppet masters.

From what seems to start with an apparent killing of a live news reporter at the time of an explosion, our determined combatant is on a quest to avenge his fiancée’s surreptitious murder in plain sight. Little does he know that nothing is quite as it seems, not the media she worked for, the close protection unit of former colleagues, fixers, interpreters nor local leaders or principal politicians.

The action is relentless and realistic, even showing clearly why one should always service their piece and other pragmatic situations. This is an excellent action thriller for those who enjoy the genre and not just simply a shoot them up and win the day fantasy of many.… (más)

Having read and enjoyed Bob Shepherd's non fiction book 'The Circuit' when I saw this novel by him in the bookstore I thought I'd give it a shot: After all people with first hand experience often can provide a more realistic image than lounge chair warriors.

It takes a little while to warm up, and I found it took some getting used to the untitled swapping from past to present, chapter by chapter, which was actually rather jarring until you grasp the pattern in your mind.

The characters are believable and likeable, the plot is realistically possible and the ending is good (although part of me does prefer stories that 'resolve' rather than leave it up to the readers mind).

I do have to say I did prefer his non fiction work though, if I was going to read one of them again, it would be 'The Circuit'.… (más)

One thing has to be clear from the start – this book is not critique of private security industry and their actions from the “outsiders” (journalist, investigative reporters) point of view [as it is often case in most books on this subject that are considered with legal point of view on the issue of military force privatization – and I can say with a very good reason but I will not go into details here].
This is a book written [obviously] by an expert in the field of close protection who feels proud to be working for commercial security companies (CSC) and thinks that they have their place under the sun (he is more than proud when it comes to his teammates and working colleagues), but also feels more then embittered considering the way those same commercial security companies conduct and do their everyday job.
He does not advocate shutdown of all CSCs but their reorganization and legal regulation that will enable them to remain professional (by that he considers using firearms to be a very last resort something that should happen only if everything else fails) and do the jobs that are truly jobs for them (author clearly draws the line between operations that are supposed to be conducted by regular military forces and those that are open to the market (CSCs) to pop right in).

It is interesting point of view today – saying that CSCs are useful as an asset [or backup if you like] to regular military operations but should not become means for themselves, they should not become way for hiding seriousness of situation in conflict areas nor the way to hide number of casualties.

Very interesting book, written by a man that knows what he’s taking about. If you are interested in the field of CSCs/PMCs you’ll like this one.

Recommended.… (más)