Book Review: No Easy Day by Mark Owen

About:
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen is a nonfiction account from one of the man in the Navy SEALs unit who were tasked with raiding the compound in which it was thought that Usama Bin Laden is hiding.

• 316 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525953728

My rat­ing for No Easy Day – 4

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Thoughts:
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen is a fast, exciting read which gives the reader a small glimpse of these elite units, their culture and attitude. The author, a SEAL for 10 years before going on the mission, makes good use of the page and the narrative and does not question the kill-and-capture he and his fellow soldiers have been sent on.

Much of the book tells about the author’s training, SEAL culture and missions he went on (most in Iraq and Afghanistan). The author provides many details, despite a disclaimer that he, for obvious reasons, cannot compromise security or identities.

The narrative is sweeping, fast and personal, the author goes into details of other missions to make the reader realize that despite the significance of the raid on Abbottabad, Pakistan it was treated with the professionalism reserved for other raids of the same nature. One of the missions the author tells about is the one to rescue a US merchant marine ship, the MV Maersk Alabama, from Somali pirates – captained by one Richard Phillips.

The book was fun and captivating, but left a sour taste in my mouth, while I do agree with him that the Washington chicken hawks need a little curbing here and there it is evident that his distaste for President Obama has skewed his perspective and his reasoning for writing the book. After all, any politician these days, regardless of party, would have take credit for this operation (I do believe that Obama has benefited from this successful operation but he had not taken the credit as pompously as the author believes.

Buy this book in paper or in elec­tronic format*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I bought this book.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account