The Perfect Kill

I want to start off by saying this book isn’t bad. In fact there were some parts that I found really interesting. However, it is extremely niche, and doesn’t offer much other than exactly what’s on the cover, so if that’s your thing, great. Otherwise, probably not worth your time.

The book is not a typical novel, instead it is a guidebook on how to be an assassin, more or less, with each chapter being a new law. This format is like the TV show Burn Notice, how each episode is framed around teaching new spies some sort of tactic in voiceover. The laws also help Baer talk about Hajj Radwan, a higher up in Hezbollah, and, according to Baer, one of the most efficient assassins of the modern day. Baer was in the CIA, and spent a lot of time in the Middle East, so his insights here are pretty interesting, especially when it comes to why certain people are targeted for assassination. Some of his writing comes across as ‘old man yelling at cloud’, but for the most part it’s clear, concise, and matter-of-fact.

The chapters being focused on laws of assassins is fun and a smart way to divide up the story, since Baer, and nobody really, has all of the facts. So it lets Baer throw in his assumptions without having to be bound by the typical non-fiction rule of being 100% fact, because this is a guidebook, not a history book. And the tactic works well enough, though it gets repetitive at times.

There’s not too much to say about it really. If you’re into assassinations, why and how they happen, and the political structure of the middle east from about the 80s to the early 2000s, you’ll probably enjoy this book, otherwise, look somewhere else, this isn’t the book for you. It’s a quick read, but only for a select audience, and even then you’ll only get so much out of it.

For me it’s a 2.5/5, not because it’s a huge miss or anything, just because of how niche it is. It’s a fine book, but nothing more. Like Shake Milton before he tied the record for most threes made in a row. A fine player, but not for everyone… also a sniper.