Assassins starts in Paris in 2015 and then quickly transitions to Afghanistan in 1982, a reminder that things haven't changed that much over 30+ years. It's clear that Mike Bond is more comfortable writing about war and weapons because those parts have a better flow to them than the rest of the book, especially the dialogue, which is choppy and awkward. Unfortunately the parts I could be interested in aren't written that well, and war books aren't really my thing.