1. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch. 7/10.
2. The Racketeer - John Grisham. 5/10.
3. Orphan X - Gregg Hurwitz. 9/10.
4. The Longest Kill - Craig Harrison. 8/10.
A very interesting autobiography of an ordinary soldier who becomes one of the world's most deadly snipers. The book ends with a description of Harrison's struggles with PTSD, and gives a reminder of the effects combat can have on soldiers. This guy has my total admiration.
Harrison was involved in two tours to Afghanistan. He was seriously injured by a mine, but recovered to be sent back for a second tour of duty.
The title refers to what was the longest ever sniper kill. Harrison managed to take out an Afghan insurgent at a range that was later measured at 2475 metres. For context, Harrison hit a target the size of you and me, from his position 2400 metres away. That's the same as looking at a person hiding in cover in Picadilly Gardens, from your seat at the Etihad. It would take 3 minutes to cover that distance in a car at 30mph.
The book is fascinating for the descriptions of how a sniper operates and prepares to engage. Harrison's record was beaten in 2017 by a Canadian sniper in Iraq, with an incredible kill distance of 3,450 metres.