Philosophy for the violent mind

Micro review of Jack London's Assassination Bureau, Ltd.

I used to think they didn’t make fiction for men anymore...

And, considering this book’s publication history, I’m still left where I began.

However,

The Assassination Bureau, Ltd. was both entertaining and enriching, quenching that thirst for violent action and existential pondering that every man inevitably feels.

Jack London’s then-unfinished—he later finished it beyond the grave; go read about it—novel presents us with two clashing characters and their opposing ideologies: Ivan Dragomiloff, the Bureau’s director, and Winter Hall, who is very attracted to his daughter.

Winter Hall hates murder, so much so that he commissions his future father-in-law to assassinate himself.

Dragomiloff, inexplicably, disagrees.

He argues that, to ensure the Bureau’s morality, each of its targets is rigorously judged and deemed a net negative for society, but he is ultimately convinced by Hall and orders his men to kill him.

They inexplicably disagree, too.

What follows are plots, schemes, and combat scenes in which the philosophical debate not only drives the story but also forces the reader to question their assumptions about the right to life and death, and about moral rigidity.

If you enjoy restaurant bombings, hand-to-hand combat, and rowboat chases, then you will enjoy The Assassination Bureau, Ltd.

You will enjoy it very much.

The only issue I noticed was that the book was translated into French.

quatre/5

Trivia: Did you know? Jack London was an oyster pirate as a child before dying, several decades later, from alcoholism and travel-related diseases.