From its terrifying start in the night skies of Afghanistan to its
stunning end in the Paris terrorist attacks, Assassins is, in novelized
form, the story of the last thirty years of war between Islam and the
West. Based on the author’s experiences in the Middle East, Assassins
lives this unending conflict from the viewpoints of an American
commando, a French woman doctor, an Afghani warlord, a Russian major,
and a British woman journalist. Drop by parachute into the deadly
mountains of Afghanistan, fight door to door in the bloody cities of
Iraq and the lethal deserts of Syria, Sinai and Africa, know the terror
of battle inside a Russian tank, feel the power of passion and love when
at any moment you both can die – it’s all there, all real, in
Assassins.______________________________________
ASSASSINS
The World Changes Before Our Eyes in
Mike Bond’s Magnum Opus
How did ISIS grow from a small
collection of thugs to an international terrorist organization? Mike Bond
explores that question, and much more in Assassins
(Mandevilla Press; January 2017), his
most ambitious novel to date. Bond spans the 30-year history of radical Islam’s
War Against the West beginning in the war-torn mountains of Afghanistan in 1982
to the night of the devastating Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, 2015. It’s
a tale of never-ending battle through the eyes of an American commando, a
French woman doctor, an Afghani warlord, a Russian major, a British woman journalist,
and a top CIA operative.
Witness the West’s bumbling and
nefarious dealings with the Islamic world where nothing is cut and dry or black
and white, raising all sorts of questions that need answering. Did the Saudi
government finance 9/11? Did the Bush administration let Osama bin Laden escape
Afghanistan? Did President Obama’s decision to leave Iraq lead to the rise of
ISIS and global fanaticism? Bond knows of which he speaks—throughout the world
he has seen the devastation first hand.
ASSASINS
is multiple thrillers and frantic loves stories woven into one tale that
dissects the history of our geopolitical landscape. It is also a treatise on a warrior’s
deep loyalties to those he loves, the men he leads, and the nation he serves. Based on the author’s own experiences in the
Middle East and elsewhere, Assassins
is sure to be remembered as Mike Bond’s masterpiece.
MIKE BOND is
the best-selling author of Saving
Paradise, House of Jaguar, The Last Savanna, Holy War, Tibetan Cross, and
Killing Maine. He is a war and human
rights journalist and ecologist who has lived and worked in many dangerous and
war-torn regions of the world. His critically acclaimed novels depict the
innate hunger of the human heart for good, the intense joys of love, the terror
and fury of battle, the sinister conspiracies of dictators, corporations and
politicians, and the beauty of the vanishing natural world.
ASSASSINS
Mike Bond
Mandevilla Press; January, 2017
$15.99; 560 pages
ISBN: 978-162704-035-8
___________________________________________________
Questions for Mike Bond on Assassins
1. Was
there a moment where you felt compelled to tell a story about the rise of ISIS
and Islamic fanaticism with this book being the result?
This
is a subject I’ve been dealing with since my teenage years in Algeria, then by
being in a number of wars between Islam and the West. Because Islam represents
a serious (though often underestimated) threat to our modern Western way of
life and civilization, I am consistently driven to write about and report it.
2. This
novel is significant in length being over 500 pages long. How long did it take
you to write Assassins?
I
began writing it after 9/11, when I realized that our own government had helped
to create that disaster and then failed to protect us from it. Over the years I
added to it, and finally finished it last winter.
3. What
were you looking to accomplish in providing multiple viewpoints ranging from an
American commando to an Afghani warlord?
Everyone’s
truth is different; if we can’t understand the enemy (and how we have helped to
create them) then we can’t possibly defeat them. Even more importantly, what we
do wrong (such as invading Iraq, or letting Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora, or
leaving Iraq in 2011 after we had basically won) merely creates more enemies in
the future.
4. How
much research went into bringing characters and their various cultures to life?
Very
little research. Most of this is straight out of my own life and those of
colleagues and friends.
5. Which
one of those characters was the hardest to write?
They
were all easy to write, as they are taken from life. They are who they are; I
just described them.
6. Which
one was your favorite or most enjoyable to write?
The
French doctor. Because I had the hots for her.
7. Assassins covers
over 30-years of fighting between Islam and the West but you have also said
that it is an examination on a warrior’s loyalties to those he loves and those
he serves. What do you mean by this?
The
problem with being a warrior is that you’re obliged to follow orders. Most of
the top CIA people knew in 2002-2003 that Iraq had no weapons of mass
destruction (it was a total fabrication of the GW Bush administration), but had
to follow the line that there was. Sometimes you go into battle knowing that
the strategy and tactics are wrong and are going to cost unnecessary American
casualties, but you can’t refuse. If you know a war is wrong, should you fight
it?
8. Why do you write about topics that are so
relevant in modern times when it comes to environmentalism, human rights, and
international conflict?
What
is important to me is the protection and survival of the good against the
overwhelming powers of evil.
9. Why
did you decide to end the novel on the night of the Paris attacks in 2015?
It
could go on forever; one of my sons and his wife narrowly escaped death from
the Muslim attack in Nice last July, but I had already finished the book. The
Paris attack was an example of the hostility of the Muslim world to pleasure,
joy, sex, music, women, and fun in any form. So it made a good ending,
unfortunately.
1.
What
do you hope for this novel to accomplish when all is said and done?
To give people a better
idea of what’s really going on. Few people know the evils of the GW Bush
administration, and the horrors it has caused, nor do they understand the
profound evils of Muslim fundamentalism. And as I say in the book, “Anyone who
reads the New York Times or listens to CNN, NPR, or any other mainline media
can’t possibly have the faintest idea of what’s really going on in the world.”
I’m offering a more honest and deeply focused view.