The Operators: On the Streets with Britain's Most Secret Service

I believe I am going to have a problem with this book. The author purports to have been a former officer in a highly secret anti-terrorist unit. However, a quick scan through stopped at plate 13 which describes '...A Thompson 9mm submachine gun...'. By definition Ruperts are traditionally vague and iffy but any sprog, or a reader of boy's comics would know that the Thompson is, was,and always shall be 0.45 calibre, somewhat larger than 9mil. I sincerely hope I encounter no other such glaring inaccuracies whilst reading it but I fear the worst.I am amazed that the, usually, scrupulously accurate 'Pen and Sword' allowed such a slip to occur.

Just to preface this I am a keen reviewer but rarely review books...I am ex military and a Northern Irish native so this book looked right up my street sadly for the most part I was mistaken.For about 60% of the book it's a ex public school boy infantary officer complaining about having to do running in a quasi special forces selection. The only semi interesting part of the selection process in the book was the advanced driving skills and the detail about the weapons.Very little detail even generic information as I appericiate the Offical Secrets Act / MOD limits actual detail about any operations in Northern Ireland which is why I bought the book and I assume why others would be interested in the title too.Overall impression far too much detail about how tiring running is but definately not as tiring trying to finish this book! Also the man must have used the word "supper" about 50 times and in one instance a "jolly super"..... need I really say more.I don't nessicarly agree with the other review that suggested he was a walter mitty but as an author it's a no from me.

I quite enjoyed this ebook previously reading a couple of similar ones. This book starts with the person in the army then a few chapters are all about his training to become part of 14 Company ( Undercover Operatives ) in Northern Ireland. I must admit I wish there was more chapters on missions and ops and a little less on the training, not that they chapters were boring ! I'm glad and proud of people like this operating in troubled areas putting their lives on the line for odimary citizens like us. They have nerves of steel for what they done while deployed over there and what they risked. People over there knew they operated in their area but because of their countless training and tests no one seen them covertly setting up specialist equipment in houses, surveillance on pubs, shops etc. I'd highly recommended this book for people interested in spy stuff as these operators were much better than James Bond !

Following on from reading Soldier Spy this is an amazing insight into the men and women who acted so courageously to counter the terrorist threat. I had on occasion the privilege of flying them in and out of Alder grove.

It seems a long while back now that we used to have Ireland on the news all day every day, Belfast was a sink of booze fuelled little big men going about terrifying the life out of themselves and murdering innocents on the way. This book is about the hardcore training that goes into penetrating those brutal cliques and cleaning up the streets. It's a great read. It also makes you realise what a highly skilled group of operatives can do and the appalling risks they took to nail these criminals. Those were dark days, just as they had been in Bosnia Hertzogovina for anyone who was out there, they too were peopled by half crazed, booze fulled butchers with an irrational blood lust hell bent on exacting reprisals on the descendants of ancestors for whom they were and are not responsible.. Bravo James Rennie for having the guts and do this - and all the ops who put their lives on the line to stop it. They're the best.

As per the title i picked this based on reading Soldier Spy, hoping it would be similiar. Unfortuantely it isnt, it isnt a terrible read either and does have a sense of urgency throughout that immerses you into the secret undercover world it strives to convey.Im not a novice reader of similar military, undercover ops type books but at times the frenetic recollections of callsigns and abbreviated mentions of movements leaves you tracking back through passages to try and get a grasp of what is actually going on.It does offer a new perspective i havent read before with regards the units involved, the training and selection processes as well seem to be somewhat different though unlike a lot of other books from the same genre the author doesnt spend too much time preferring to keep the reader engaged with actual operations and action.If you want a good fast paced recounting of a generally unfeted unit that worked in the Troubles in Northern Ireland then this is a solid choice, but as said you have to go far to beat picking up a copy of Soldier Spy!

It won't win a prize for being the best written book, but it is without question, the most fascinating book I've read in a long time. I read in a weekend. I couldn't put it down. You have to concentrate a bit to start with to get used to all the jargon and the way they communicate. But I promise you it's worth it!

This is not at all a branch of special forces I have read about in detail before, their level of training is brutal and it seems to work as he’s alive and well writing a book. It’s well worth reading and remembering the people who we never heard of on the news who very possibly saved more lives than anybody else.