Owen Mark (with Maurer Kevin). No easy day, Dutton (Penguin), New York, 2012. Hardcover, 316 pages

Rating: 4.5/10

Anything connected to 9/11 or the killing of Osama Bin Laden is, in principle, sellable. And here you have one of the only twenty four men privileged to witness Osama’s execution offer a firsthand account of the mission. That alone is the high point of the book, the fact that the author saw Osama die, fired a few shots into Osama’s chest, cleaned his face, shared a flight with Osama’s body from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, this particular episode doesn’t have the wordcount to make it a 300 page book. The author, a former Navy Seal, decided to pad it up and make it into an autobiography. The first half of the book offers Mark Owen’s background. As a child, he wanted to be a Navy Seal, and his focus and determination were rewarded by his becoming part of the famous mission. Mark Owen has changed all names, and omitted many details he considers secret. That makes the first half of the book bland. There is not much there that is not known or can’t be imagined. The book takes a grip once the reader travels with the author to the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It’s possible to relive those forty minutes in which Osama, his son, and three others were killed in a daring operation.

If I were to choose only one book on the subject, I would recommend Mark Bowden’s The Finish: Killing of Osama Bin Laden published in the same year (2012). As a matter of record, Matt Bissonnette, the real name of the Seal, on learning that Mark Bowden was going to publish his book, took a similar sounding pseudonym and managed to push his release earlier than The Finish. This somewhat unethical behavior can be condoned only because the author is an American hero.

Verdict: Read the second half of the book to relive the mission. To get an all-round view, though, read Mark Bowden’s The Finish.