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Rating: 
Summary: Read the book and met the man
Review: This was my first experience of meeting an author as well as a real ex-SAS operative. Both in the book and in real life Pete immediately blows a number of pre-conceived notions about British 'Special Forces' operatives out of the water. I should say he had been asked as Guest Speaker to an entirely non military function in Ecuador by a fellow SAS Sergeant half his age, who likewise demonstrated similar traits. The most striking of these was the lack 'gung-ho' attention seeking on the part of these guys. The Joker was written as a reaction against the attention seeking contained Brave Two Zero and particularly against what Pete discerns as a lack of loyalty demonstrated in that book to fellow operatives - guys who gave their lives. The Joker is a facinating mixture of humour, action, technical detail and sadness (Taff and old Taff for example). Pete's philosophy is that the SAS are there to preserve life (not to take it)but that firearms and death are, unfortunately, a route which must sometimes be chosen to do that. In real life the ex SAS remain astoundingly low key. Pete explained that in security work, the merest whisper of your background and you find yourself being questioned by 'hard men' involved in civilian security work who expect you to prove to them that you were in 'The Regiment'. 'Who me - not me mate'. The book is compulsive reading. A summary of 22 hard years spent amongst some of the finest military operatives in the world. But all Pete says is 'the SAS are no different to any other soldiers, they just try a little bit harder'. You don't need to be a military reader to enjoy this book. Go out and get it now - you won't regret it.
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