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Operation Relentless: The Hunt for the Richest, Deadliest Criminal in History
By 2007 Viktor Bout had become the world's foremost arms dealer. Known as the 'Merchant of Death' he was both "Public Enemy No. 1" to the global intelligence agencies and a ruthless criminal worth around six billion dollars.
For years Bout had eluded capture, meanwhile building up a labyrinthine network of airlines selling weapons to order to dictators, rebels, despots and terror groups worldwide. He was hunted by the CIA, NSA, MI6, as well sought by the United Nations for being their top global sanctions buster. Holed up in Moscow - from where he ran a suite of offices selling anything from AK47s to state-of-the-art helicopter gunships and anti-aircraft missiles - he was shielded by a Russian state that was a partner in his dark dealings. In short, Bout appeared utterly invulnerable and beyond any hope of capture.
Step forward former SAS man Mike Snow. After serving in the Regiment, Snow had worked as a bush pilot in Africa, where he'd got to know Bout well. Via its own secretive, shadow network, Snow was approached by the US DEA, the Drugs Enforcement Agency. The DEA agents had one question for him: was Snow able to get to Viktor Bout?
This is the incredible tale of OPERATION RELENTLESS, the top-secret mission that Snow and a handful of DEA operatives launched to entrap Viktor Bout - a story that ranges from the steamy jungles of Colombia to the ice-bound streets of Moscow, and from horrific bloodshed and tyranny in the Congo, to a snatch operation like no other. It may read like an implausible thriller, but every word of Operation Relentless is true.
For years Bout had eluded capture, meanwhile building up a labyrinthine network of airlines selling weapons to order to dictators, rebels, despots and terror groups worldwide. He was hunted by the CIA, NSA, MI6, as well sought by the United Nations for being their top global sanctions buster. Holed up in Moscow - from where he ran a suite of offices selling anything from AK47s to state-of-the-art helicopter gunships and anti-aircraft missiles - he was shielded by a Russian state that was a partner in his dark dealings. In short, Bout appeared utterly invulnerable and beyond any hope of capture.
Step forward former SAS man Mike Snow. After serving in the Regiment, Snow had worked as a bush pilot in Africa, where he'd got to know Bout well. Via its own secretive, shadow network, Snow was approached by the US DEA, the Drugs Enforcement Agency. The DEA agents had one question for him: was Snow able to get to Viktor Bout?
This is the incredible tale of OPERATION RELENTLESS, the top-secret mission that Snow and a handful of DEA operatives launched to entrap Viktor Bout - a story that ranges from the steamy jungles of Colombia to the ice-bound streets of Moscow, and from horrific bloodshed and tyranny in the Congo, to a snatch operation like no other. It may read like an implausible thriller, but every word of Operation Relentless is true.
408 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2017
50 people are currently reading
275 people want to read
About the author
Damien Lewis
83 books449 followersDamien Lewis became an author largely by accident, when a British publisher asked him if he'd be willing to turn a TV documentary he was working on into a book. That film was shot in the Sudan war zone, and told the story of how Arab tribes seized black African slaves in horrific slave raids. Lewis had been to the Sudan war zone dozens of times over the past decade, reporting on that conflict for the BBC, Channel 4 and US and European broadcasters.
His slavery documentary told the story of a young girl from the Nuba tribe, seized in a raid and sold into slavery in Khartoum, Sudan's capital city, and of her epic escape. The publisher asked Lewis if the Nuba girl would be willing to write her life story as a book, with his help as co-author. The book that they co-wrote was called 'Slave', and it was published to great acclaim, becoming a number one bestseller and being translated into some 30 lanc guages worldwide. It won several awards and has been made into a feature film.
Over the preceding fifteen years Lewis had reported from many war, conflict and disaster zones – including Sudan, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, Burma, Afghanistan and the Balkans (see Author's Gallery). He (and his film crew) traveled into such areas with aid workers, the British or allied military, UN forces or local military groups, or very much under their own steam. He reported on the horror and human impact of war, as well as the drama of conflict itself. Often, he worked alone. Often, he filmed his own material over extended periods of time living in the war or conflict zone.
During a decade spent reporting from around the world Lewis lived in deserts, rainforests, jungles and chaotic third world cities. In his work and travels he met and interviewed people smugglers, diamond miners, Catholic priests 'gone native', desert nomads, un-contacted tribes, aid workers, bush pilots, arms dealers, genocidal leaders, peacekeepers, game wardens, slum kids, world presidents, heroin traffickers, rebel warlords, child prostitutes, Islamist terrorists, Hindu holy men, mercenaries, bush doctors, soldiers, commanders and spies. He was injured, and was hospitalised with bizarre tropical diseases – including flesh-eating bacteria, worms that burrow through the skin and septicemia – but survived all that and continued to report.
It was only natural that having seen so much of global conflict he would be drawn to stories of war, terrorism, espionage and the often dark causes behind such conflicts when he started writing books. Having written a number of true stories, in 2006 he was chosen as one of the 'nation's 20 favourite authors' and wrote his first fiction, Desert Claw, for the British Government's Quick Read initiative. Desert Claw tells of a group of ex-Special Forces soldiers sent into Iraq to retrieve a looted Van Gogh painting, with a savage twist to the tale. That fiction was followed up by Cobra Gold, an equally compelling tale of global drama and intrigue and shadowy betrayal.
Damien Lewis's work, books and films have won the Index on Censorship (UK), CECRA (Spain), Project Censored (US), Commonwealth Relations (UK), Discovery-NHK BANFF (Canada), Rory Peck (UK), BBC One World (UK), BBC-WWF Wildscreen (UK), International Peace Prize (US), Elle Magazine Grande Prix (US), Victor Gollanz (Germany), and BBC One World (UK) Awards. He is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
His slavery documentary told the story of a young girl from the Nuba tribe, seized in a raid and sold into slavery in Khartoum, Sudan's capital city, and of her epic escape. The publisher asked Lewis if the Nuba girl would be willing to write her life story as a book, with his help as co-author. The book that they co-wrote was called 'Slave', and it was published to great acclaim, becoming a number one bestseller and being translated into some 30 lanc guages worldwide. It won several awards and has been made into a feature film.
Over the preceding fifteen years Lewis had reported from many war, conflict and disaster zones – including Sudan, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, Burma, Afghanistan and the Balkans (see Author's Gallery). He (and his film crew) traveled into such areas with aid workers, the British or allied military, UN forces or local military groups, or very much under their own steam. He reported on the horror and human impact of war, as well as the drama of conflict itself. Often, he worked alone. Often, he filmed his own material over extended periods of time living in the war or conflict zone.
During a decade spent reporting from around the world Lewis lived in deserts, rainforests, jungles and chaotic third world cities. In his work and travels he met and interviewed people smugglers, diamond miners, Catholic priests 'gone native', desert nomads, un-contacted tribes, aid workers, bush pilots, arms dealers, genocidal leaders, peacekeepers, game wardens, slum kids, world presidents, heroin traffickers, rebel warlords, child prostitutes, Islamist terrorists, Hindu holy men, mercenaries, bush doctors, soldiers, commanders and spies. He was injured, and was hospitalised with bizarre tropical diseases – including flesh-eating bacteria, worms that burrow through the skin and septicemia – but survived all that and continued to report.
It was only natural that having seen so much of global conflict he would be drawn to stories of war, terrorism, espionage and the often dark causes behind such conflicts when he started writing books. Having written a number of true stories, in 2006 he was chosen as one of the 'nation's 20 favourite authors' and wrote his first fiction, Desert Claw, for the British Government's Quick Read initiative. Desert Claw tells of a group of ex-Special Forces soldiers sent into Iraq to retrieve a looted Van Gogh painting, with a savage twist to the tale. That fiction was followed up by Cobra Gold, an equally compelling tale of global drama and intrigue and shadowy betrayal.
Damien Lewis's work, books and films have won the Index on Censorship (UK), CECRA (Spain), Project Censored (US), Commonwealth Relations (UK), Discovery-NHK BANFF (Canada), Rory Peck (UK), BBC One World (UK), BBC-WWF Wildscreen (UK), International Peace Prize (US), Elle Magazine Grande Prix (US), Victor Gollanz (Germany), and BBC One World (UK) Awards. He is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 30, 2018
I just realized I forgot to review this, and it's been a month since I finished it!
A fantastic book - by far Damien's best.
Reality trumps all fiction.
The amount of literal, proverbial and geopolitical WTF in this book is amazing. So DEA goes after a Russian arms dealer Victor Bout AKA #1 criminal on their list, after they get concerned he's shipping weapons to the Taliban. But then, it does not stop the US from using Victor's transport services in Iraq when they run short of available capacity.
The story follows Mike Snow, an-ex SAS working as a bush pilot in South Africa, who gets recruited by a French expat living in the UK (a DEA roper) to work for the DEA and help ensnare Victor, who is sort of a big league guy in Africa, and Mike's only small fish. Mike is asked to bring in his and Victor's mutual friend, Andrew Smulian, a Brit living in South Africa and working as an arms dealer middleman to try to trap Victor. He is helped bu an ex-Guatemalan drug dealer cum DEA undercover agent and an ex-Venezuelan special forces police officer cum drug dealer cum DEA agent. They use names like The Mexican, El Commandante, The Bear, The King of Sting.
Remember, this is no fiction - this is the real world in 2000-2008.
To make it all the more interesting, the two Spanish speakers impersonate FARC rebels from Columbia in need of cash laundering in Europe, so they go to Denmark and then Romania to woo Smulian so he gets greedy and convinces Victor to leave Russia, where he's untouchable, so he can be apprehended by a DEA sting in a country with extradition rights to the US. This eventually happens in Thailand. Mike's there to make Smulian drop his guard. Years and years of undercover work, bugged phones, cameras and key fobs, dirty money used as operation funds.
On top of that, Damien also weaves the background story, going back to the mid-90s, so we learn more about our protagonists and villains. Mike survives an airport "attack" in Uganda when a refugee woman decides to cook food on top of an artillery shell casing, setting it afire and making it detonate, but his smuggling planes are ruined. Victor takes videos of everywhere he goes and gives an interview to the Time magazine. A Russian plane is forced by the Taliban to land in Afghanistan, but the crew, after 370 days of captivity, manages to take off and flee. Victor's planes ferry American equipment to Iraq at a modest 60,000 dollars per flight.
Magnificent, fascinating, mad, sad, crazy, thrilling.
This book can easily sit next to any Clancy's or Ludlum's spy-thriller novels without shame, and it's all the better because the characters are flawed, the conversations are in imperfect street-international English, and it's happening for real.
I can't recommend this book enough. Even if it sounds possibly too mundane, or you're not keen on contemporary affairs, Operation Relentless is a masterpiece. I really hope Damien keeps up this pace in his future books.
Igor
A fantastic book - by far Damien's best.
Reality trumps all fiction.
The amount of literal, proverbial and geopolitical WTF in this book is amazing. So DEA goes after a Russian arms dealer Victor Bout AKA #1 criminal on their list, after they get concerned he's shipping weapons to the Taliban. But then, it does not stop the US from using Victor's transport services in Iraq when they run short of available capacity.
The story follows Mike Snow, an-ex SAS working as a bush pilot in South Africa, who gets recruited by a French expat living in the UK (a DEA roper) to work for the DEA and help ensnare Victor, who is sort of a big league guy in Africa, and Mike's only small fish. Mike is asked to bring in his and Victor's mutual friend, Andrew Smulian, a Brit living in South Africa and working as an arms dealer middleman to try to trap Victor. He is helped bu an ex-Guatemalan drug dealer cum DEA undercover agent and an ex-Venezuelan special forces police officer cum drug dealer cum DEA agent. They use names like The Mexican, El Commandante, The Bear, The King of Sting.
Remember, this is no fiction - this is the real world in 2000-2008.
To make it all the more interesting, the two Spanish speakers impersonate FARC rebels from Columbia in need of cash laundering in Europe, so they go to Denmark and then Romania to woo Smulian so he gets greedy and convinces Victor to leave Russia, where he's untouchable, so he can be apprehended by a DEA sting in a country with extradition rights to the US. This eventually happens in Thailand. Mike's there to make Smulian drop his guard. Years and years of undercover work, bugged phones, cameras and key fobs, dirty money used as operation funds.
On top of that, Damien also weaves the background story, going back to the mid-90s, so we learn more about our protagonists and villains. Mike survives an airport "attack" in Uganda when a refugee woman decides to cook food on top of an artillery shell casing, setting it afire and making it detonate, but his smuggling planes are ruined. Victor takes videos of everywhere he goes and gives an interview to the Time magazine. A Russian plane is forced by the Taliban to land in Afghanistan, but the crew, after 370 days of captivity, manages to take off and flee. Victor's planes ferry American equipment to Iraq at a modest 60,000 dollars per flight.
Magnificent, fascinating, mad, sad, crazy, thrilling.
This book can easily sit next to any Clancy's or Ludlum's spy-thriller novels without shame, and it's all the better because the characters are flawed, the conversations are in imperfect street-international English, and it's happening for real.
I can't recommend this book enough. Even if it sounds possibly too mundane, or you're not keen on contemporary affairs, Operation Relentless is a masterpiece. I really hope Damien keeps up this pace in his future books.
Igor
September 6, 2019
'Operation Relentless' is the tough, no holds barred account of a DEA sting. Its purpose: to bring down the man dubbed 'the Merchant Of Death'.
Written with authenticity and attention to detail this reads like a novel. The characters are well rounded and the action is well told. It treads a fine line between being a dull recounting of dry facts and a swashbuckling account. Here Lewis' pulls off the difficult balance. He has produced a book which is not only very readable but also contains key facts. It's all presented in a way which holds the reader’s attention and is a decent enough good read.
So why only 3 stars? Because it's about 25% too long. I'm sure certain details and conversations could have been skipped. And by doing this it would have made it even more readable.
Written with authenticity and attention to detail this reads like a novel. The characters are well rounded and the action is well told. It treads a fine line between being a dull recounting of dry facts and a swashbuckling account. Here Lewis' pulls off the difficult balance. He has produced a book which is not only very readable but also contains key facts. It's all presented in a way which holds the reader’s attention and is a decent enough good read.
So why only 3 stars? Because it's about 25% too long. I'm sure certain details and conversations could have been skipped. And by doing this it would have made it even more readable.
February 18, 2018
'Operation Relentless' is the tough, no holds barred account of one former SAS man & two former career drug-traffickers in a DEA orchestrated 'sting' to bring down the man dubbed 'the Merchant Of Death'. The billionaire former KGB officer turned arms dealer & drugs trafficker, Victor Bout. The pages of this book fairly hum with anticipation as they race you to the conclusion. Written with trademark authenticity & attention to detail - if it's got Damien Lewis' name on it you know you're in for a great read!
June 8, 2017
The story of the capture of “The Merchant of Death”
Viktor Bout was nicknamed “The Merchant of Death” as he sold and shipped arms and other weapons of war to anyone who would pay the price. He ended up on the USA’s most wanted criminal list and this book describes the way in which the DEA tricked him into travelling to Thailand to agree a huge arms deal where he was arrested in 2008 and then extradited in 2010.
This type of book always treads a fine line between being a dull recounting of dry facts and a swashbuckling James Bond-style account. In this case the author pulls off the extraordinarily difficult job and has produced a manuscript which is not only very readable but also contains the salient facts, presented in a manner which holds the reader’s attention and is enjoyable reading.
The first part of the book focuses on the life history of Mike Snow who was key to enabling the DEA to make contact and to get close to Bout in the first place. Snow (ex SAS) was a renegade with a chequered history who ended up in Africa as owner of a very small airline ferrying goods and people wherever there was a demand. In that capacity, he operated in the same region and line of business as Bout although neither would have considered the other a competitor.
The story then moves on to describe how the DEA and Snow work together posing as FARC rebels (a Colombian guerrilla movement) with Snow’s contacts to initially make contact with Bout. After various false starts the rest is history and Bout is eventually captured. However, some of the history is very illuminating. For instance, I was unaware of just how difficult Bush’s executive order made life for such individuals as Bout. Additionally, I was totally in the dark as to the work of our own Peter Hain when he was in the government to harass and chase Bout.
The account is very easy to read and fascinating in the way it describes how this dark world operates. It lost a star as I was totally confused and frustrated by the way each chapter hopped backwards and forwards in time. Whilst I am sure the author had good reasons for setting it out in this way it didn’t work for me. Nevertheless this is a must-read for anyone remotely interested in these types of activities.
mr zorg
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
Viktor Bout was nicknamed “The Merchant of Death” as he sold and shipped arms and other weapons of war to anyone who would pay the price. He ended up on the USA’s most wanted criminal list and this book describes the way in which the DEA tricked him into travelling to Thailand to agree a huge arms deal where he was arrested in 2008 and then extradited in 2010.
This type of book always treads a fine line between being a dull recounting of dry facts and a swashbuckling James Bond-style account. In this case the author pulls off the extraordinarily difficult job and has produced a manuscript which is not only very readable but also contains the salient facts, presented in a manner which holds the reader’s attention and is enjoyable reading.
The first part of the book focuses on the life history of Mike Snow who was key to enabling the DEA to make contact and to get close to Bout in the first place. Snow (ex SAS) was a renegade with a chequered history who ended up in Africa as owner of a very small airline ferrying goods and people wherever there was a demand. In that capacity, he operated in the same region and line of business as Bout although neither would have considered the other a competitor.
The story then moves on to describe how the DEA and Snow work together posing as FARC rebels (a Colombian guerrilla movement) with Snow’s contacts to initially make contact with Bout. After various false starts the rest is history and Bout is eventually captured. However, some of the history is very illuminating. For instance, I was unaware of just how difficult Bush’s executive order made life for such individuals as Bout. Additionally, I was totally in the dark as to the work of our own Peter Hain when he was in the government to harass and chase Bout.
The account is very easy to read and fascinating in the way it describes how this dark world operates. It lost a star as I was totally confused and frustrated by the way each chapter hopped backwards and forwards in time. Whilst I am sure the author had good reasons for setting it out in this way it didn’t work for me. Nevertheless this is a must-read for anyone remotely interested in these types of activities.
mr zorg
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
August 22, 2017
“Operation Relentless” is the true story of the pursuit of one of the world’s most wanted men.
Viktor Bout is a Russian businessman who provides aircraft logistics anywhere in the world. If that was all he did, it’d be a dull book. However, he also has a very profitable line in arms dealing, selling to the highest bidder and quite often, both sides in any particular conflict.
Responsible for prolonging vicious wars such as the second civil war in Rwanda, he becomes a victim of his own success and rises to prominence in the public eye and on the US’ most wanted list.
The DEA initiate Operation Relentless in order to bring Bout to justice and they assemble a small team of professionals with varied pasts. There's Carlos, the Guatamalan ex-G2 int officer, Ricardo, ex-Colombian officer now DEA confidential informant, William Brown and Zach, DEA agents and finally, the man who has contacts all over the world and was able to locate Bout, Mike Snow, ex-SAS and bush-savvy pilot.
It’s an elaborate plan with a lot of moving parts and the progress is painstakingly detailed, a lot of the conversations are taken directly from transcripts of covert recording of the meetings.
It is to Damien Lewis’ credit that he writes in a very engaging manner and maintains a hectic pace throughout the book, never overcomplicating things, yet managing to cram in an impressive amount of detail and nuance. You never feel lost and the main players are brought to life in a way that escapes many biographers. You care about these people and feel the genuine peril that they placed themselves into. In an undercover investigation, the stakes are the highest – make a wrong move, or say the wrong thing and at best, the suspect calls off the deal and bolts; at worst the undercover operative loses their life. This knife-edge which can bring massive rewards, or massive failure is an undercurrent that runs through the book and can turn a routine conversation into a life or death struggle.
I was thoroughly gripped by the book and finished it in record time. I’ve read some of Damien Lewis’ books a long time ago, but to my mind, this is his best yet.
I recommend it unreservedly to anyone who has even a passing interest in the world of arms dealing or undercover operations. It’s pacey, thrilling and engaging and Mr Lewis has surpassed himself with this epic account.
Towards the end of the book, Team Relentless is teased to have had other operations after this one and I hope that there are more books forthcoming about this crack undercover team.
“Operation Relentless” is a cracking read, full of drama and tension and moves at lightning pace. Highly recommended.
Viktor Bout is a Russian businessman who provides aircraft logistics anywhere in the world. If that was all he did, it’d be a dull book. However, he also has a very profitable line in arms dealing, selling to the highest bidder and quite often, both sides in any particular conflict.
Responsible for prolonging vicious wars such as the second civil war in Rwanda, he becomes a victim of his own success and rises to prominence in the public eye and on the US’ most wanted list.
The DEA initiate Operation Relentless in order to bring Bout to justice and they assemble a small team of professionals with varied pasts. There's Carlos, the Guatamalan ex-G2 int officer, Ricardo, ex-Colombian officer now DEA confidential informant, William Brown and Zach, DEA agents and finally, the man who has contacts all over the world and was able to locate Bout, Mike Snow, ex-SAS and bush-savvy pilot.
It’s an elaborate plan with a lot of moving parts and the progress is painstakingly detailed, a lot of the conversations are taken directly from transcripts of covert recording of the meetings.
It is to Damien Lewis’ credit that he writes in a very engaging manner and maintains a hectic pace throughout the book, never overcomplicating things, yet managing to cram in an impressive amount of detail and nuance. You never feel lost and the main players are brought to life in a way that escapes many biographers. You care about these people and feel the genuine peril that they placed themselves into. In an undercover investigation, the stakes are the highest – make a wrong move, or say the wrong thing and at best, the suspect calls off the deal and bolts; at worst the undercover operative loses their life. This knife-edge which can bring massive rewards, or massive failure is an undercurrent that runs through the book and can turn a routine conversation into a life or death struggle.
I was thoroughly gripped by the book and finished it in record time. I’ve read some of Damien Lewis’ books a long time ago, but to my mind, this is his best yet.
I recommend it unreservedly to anyone who has even a passing interest in the world of arms dealing or undercover operations. It’s pacey, thrilling and engaging and Mr Lewis has surpassed himself with this epic account.
Towards the end of the book, Team Relentless is teased to have had other operations after this one and I hope that there are more books forthcoming about this crack undercover team.
“Operation Relentless” is a cracking read, full of drama and tension and moves at lightning pace. Highly recommended.
March 13, 2020
This is the first Damien Lewis book that I've read and I was very disappointed. The narrative started quite promisingly with the main players being introduced and the detail of the background interestingly sketched.
I'm not certain that there was sufficient detail in the story to justify a book of this length and, consequently, there appeared to be an awful lot of padding. The actual sting operation itself was prolonged and consisted of a series of 'will he, won't he' scenes played out in various hotels. Reading about it was as dull as it must have been for the people involved in the operation waiting for something to happen.
Damien Lewis a well-thought of chronicler of such tales and I'm sure, amongst his other books, there are some which are much more gripping than Operation Relentless.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two families at War and The Summer of '39, all published by Sacristy Press.
I'm not certain that there was sufficient detail in the story to justify a book of this length and, consequently, there appeared to be an awful lot of padding. The actual sting operation itself was prolonged and consisted of a series of 'will he, won't he' scenes played out in various hotels. Reading about it was as dull as it must have been for the people involved in the operation waiting for something to happen.
Damien Lewis a well-thought of chronicler of such tales and I'm sure, amongst his other books, there are some which are much more gripping than Operation Relentless.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two families at War and The Summer of '39, all published by Sacristy Press.
April 13, 2024
This is a really gripping story of how the DEA ended up hunting and capturing Viktor Bout, a man who's business dealings spread his influence far and wide including partly providing the resources for many of the brutal conflicts that tore through the African continent. This gives a bit of the background to how Viktor got to where he was and how he got on the international radar (not in the way he wanted) but also how those who ended up involved in the operation found themselves there. The one thing I wasn't keen on was how the timeline jumped around for much of the first half of the book, I would've preferred a more linear telling as I didn't see how that benefited anything (and I got confused the first few times as I didn't register the dates on the chapter headings, just the where). Still this is a good solid read, particularly given how complex the whole thing got towards the end.
March 30, 2024
Nice introduction to Damien Lewis’ work which tells of the DEA plot to bring down Russia’s infamous merchant of death.
Rich in background details and real life testimony, it kept my interest throughout even though the operation, on a whole, was pretty straightforward.
Strange to read this in 2024 knowing all their work would be somewhat in vain when the US decided to free him 15yrs before his eligible release date in exchange for a weed-smoking basketball player.
Rich in background details and real life testimony, it kept my interest throughout even though the operation, on a whole, was pretty straightforward.
Strange to read this in 2024 knowing all their work would be somewhat in vain when the US decided to free him 15yrs before his eligible release date in exchange for a weed-smoking basketball player.
January 10, 2018
A very interesting read on a sting operation on the highest level of trans-national crime. However, I felt that the author made some unnecessary (albeit fairly readable) digressions. The reason for the digressions was faintly there, but, honestly, they could have been left out. If anything, it just added a slight confusion to the timeline of events.
Regardless, well worth a read
Regardless, well worth a read
July 6, 2021
This is the first non SAS book I have read by Damien Lewis, I remember the arrest of Bout, but was not aware of the facts. An interesting build up detailing the arms trade in Africa, whilst the ending was drawn out it is how these events pan out. I enjoyed reading the book and found it very interesting.
September 20, 2021
A detailed view of one of the greatest arms dealers of history (at least known for normal humans).
The start with Mike history/background is too big and I got tired of it sometimes (took a while to finish).
Anyway, it's a great story and the last part is extremely interesting and well documented here.
The start with Mike history/background is too big and I got tired of it sometimes (took a while to finish).
Anyway, it's a great story and the last part is extremely interesting and well documented here.
May 2, 2018
Great story and well researched, the first half of the book is brilliant but then gets a bit bogged down in the mire of too much fine detail resulting in a lack of pace. Would have been brilliant throughout at around 250 pages.
September 13, 2019
A really interesting story about something which completely passed me by when it actually happened. I bought the book based on others I have read by Damien Lewis and i wasn't disappointed. A truly fantastic author who translates real-life events in to page-turning stories.
August 27, 2017
Audible
March 18, 2023
Just not my cup of tea. Got bored in the end. Also, forgive my cynicism, but it seems to me that the British and Americans only wanted to stop Viktor Bout from selling arms because they wanted the monopoly for themselves, not from any purer motives. The British arms industry is worth billions and British made weapons are knowingly sold to countries in which they'll be used against civilians, but it's all done under the guise of 'business' so no one bats an eyelid. At least Bout was honest about it.
April 10, 2023
Nope, sorry, not for me. After 100 pages I gave up.
Boring, factual style of writing and certainly no tension, thrilling moments yet!
Boring, factual style of writing and certainly no tension, thrilling moments yet!
March 29, 2022
Gripping read into the fast life of an international arms dealer.
July 5, 2022
I have a read a pile of Damien Lewis' novels about the SAS in Iraq an Afghanistan, I think 6 of them, with another 6 about WWII to go. They were all gripping stories.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews