The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden Hardcover – October 16, 2012

Mark Bowden has shown that he can investigate a subject & write about it like few can. This book does have details of who was involved & even what they may have contributed & when. Bowden did not interview the operators who carried out the orders. He only talked to those who contributed the intelligence in & around the presidents cabinet. He states that the only writing of the final moments were written by the operator who pulled the trigger & this book will go on my reading list.Recommended only if you seek the presidents handling of the event.

Mark Bowden is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers of recent history. Many of his books have focused on many of the key world events during recent times such as the Iran Hostage Crisis and the pivotal battles of Viet Nam. This book did not disappoint. It’s a rather brief (300 pages or so) account of the key players in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden post 9/11, and how the United States was able to eliminate the deranged Middle Eastern lunatic.My guess is that most people had probably never heard of Osama Bin Laden before 9/11. I’ve found that most citizens don’t pay attention to world events (or even local events) until tragedy ensues which causes the masses to suddenly pay attention. Due to the catastrophe of the events of September 11, 2001, it was no surprise how united the United States quickly became, and cries for justice and revenge had never been quite so passionate. All of the sudden, Osama Bin Laden was in the metaphorical crosshairs of just about every U.S. citizen.One of the reasons I enjoyed this book so thoroughly is that the author wisely focuses on many different things and he never goes into too much detail about any aspect in particular. He spends a reasonable amount of time talking about the events of the tragic day, a history of who Bin Laden was, the politics in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, and how the United States intelligence team works and ultimately prevailed. I found it very refreshing that the author did not give a highly technical, play-by-play, account of the actual raid. Many books tend to do this, and I’m not the reader that enjoys such details. The actual “killing” of Bin Laden via said raid only takes place over about two or three pages. Such “action” is welcome in feature films, but it’s hard to replicate the tension, action, and anxiety when reading about such events on the printed page.What I have discovered is that the majority of people who did not like this book are the same people who don’t like President Barrack Obama. I say this because Obama is a key player in this book. The author mostly paints the former president in a glowing light, yet I never found his sentiments biased. Obama realizes that, once he takes office, the criminal mastermind still hasn’t been found, and even though Bin Laden’s news presence had waned considerably over the years, the president makes it a key point to keep the clandestine hunt a main priority. So, yes, Obama comes off as “presidential” in this book but….well… haters are always going to hate.This book could have easily been twice the length, but the author wisely realizes he doesn’t need too much detail and too much page space to tell a gripping tale. He succeeds here. This is a great book for anyone remotely interested in Bin Laden, the tragedy he caused, and the eventual justice that the United States of America was able to orchestrate.

Because of some of the political commentary in some of the other reviews, I have to start with a few corrective comments. The notion that Bowden is shilling for Obama here is absurd. Bowden goes out of his way to praise George W. Bush (when Bush deserves it) and to criticize Obama (when he deserves it). He also goes on rather extensively as far as tackling the mythologies which have surrounded the hunt for Bin Laden (most of those mythologies are very pro-Obama). While it's clear that Bowden respects Obama and the job he did, the only way you could think that this book was somehow trying to aggrandize him is if you approached it with the assumption that Obama must be fundamentally incompetent, and that any praise must be politically motivated. The president does get solid credit in this book, but it seems clear (given the praise and criticism given to both him and both prior presidents) that he gets it when he deserves it.Admiral McRaven is given plenty of praise. The CIA analysts who hunted Bin Laden before it was popular get a ton of praise. The SEALs and pilots who carried out the mission get even more. If the book is hagiographic about anyone, it's them.On to the review proper. At times, this book is excellent. There are moments when Bowden's clear, gripping style is in full force. Even knowing the ending, I found myself staying up late, eagerly flipping the pages to get through the narrative.That being said, this book is also hamstrung by it's focus, and that focus is a function of the places where Bowden had access. If you want a "Black Hawk Down," eyes on the ground view of how the raid went down, this isn't that book. And it's not for a very simple reason: The SEALs who partook in the raid didn't talk to Bowden.Bowden got extensive access to command-level military personnel, to top officials at the CIA and White House, and to Obama himself, and so that's the story he tells. He tells it well. But there is a different book - a more exciting one - to be written with the cooperation of the brave men who actually pulled this raid off. This book, then, while excellent really pales in comparison to "Black Hawk Down," - but what book wouldn't? That book is one of the best pieces of military writing ever published. This isn't, but of course it isn't trying to be. Rather than eyes-on-the-ground it's eyes-on-the-screen. It's a story about the generals, analysts, and politicians more than it is about the SEALs.The book also feels a bit rushed and padded. There are times when the extensive quotes from Bin Laden's writings feels like they're merely filling pages. I suspect that, given the high profile of the events covered, the deadlines involved were very tight. It may well have been more important to be first than to be best. Bowden is a solid pro and delivered a good, compelling read, but it's not an eye-opening one. There may well be a better book to be written five or ten years from now, when the spotlight has faded, the SEALs are more willing to talk, and and we all have a little more perspective about these events.But despite that, this book is engaging, sometimes gripping, and educational. It's fun and tense. It's exciting. It's a solid good-but-not-great read.

I bought this on the strength of Bowden's earlier book, Black Hawk Down (which was amazing). I should say that I haven't read the similar book, by Mark Owen, recounting the mission from one of the men who was actually there.The problem here (and it is an unavoidable one really) is that, as in the real-time finale to the film Zero Dark Thirty, the mission to capture/kill Osama bin Laden was little more than 45 mins in length from start to finish (excluding flight times). To attempt therefore to convey the minute-by-minute excitement of the mission itself in a similar style to the 2-3 days of Black Hawk Down, leaves a sizeable chunk of this book left to fill. It is perhaps understandable, and entirely reasonable, that this book should begin by providing some context, and for the first half to two-thirds it explains the build-up to how OBL was tracked to the compound in Abbottabad. The problem is that you are really waiting for the chase and the excitement that the title of the book perhaps falsely suggests this book is really all about. In reality, "The Killing of Osama Bin Laden" describes little more than 1 page of this book. But that could never have been transcribed into anything longer, so it is no fault of the author that the denouement (which will, of course, be known to all who start this book before they beging reading) can't help but feel a little like an anti-climax, and an insufficient reward for those who have persevered with the inevitably duller earlier parts of this book.

The book arrived on time and in excellent condition. Historically this is a very important story to be told about the aftermath of 911 and end of Osama bin Laden– concise and well written account.

Really good informative read. Found the events leading up to bin Laden's killing engrossing. The insight into Obama's thoughts and rationale were superbly written. Well done Mark Bowden.

Bought by mistake

An excellent account of the greatest man hunt of modern times