First Time Was For the Money, This Time It's Personal

Escape from Baghdad

The true and gripping story of James Ashcroft's audacious return to war-torn Iraq to save his friend - now in paperback

A genuinely terrifying insight into how execution squads now stalk Baghdad targeting people who helped the coalition forces ... An encounter with a suicide bomber is truly harrowing but Ashcroft somehow manages to blend stark realism with gallows humour ... Edge of the seat stuff.

Readers who like big guns and adrenaline-buzzed adventure will love the second outing for Ashcroft and co-writer Clifford Thurlow ... Nuggets of political insight are woven through this page-turning adventure that is head and shoulders above the other military memoirs hitting the shelves

James Ashcroft is a former British Infantry Captain who served in West Belfast and Yugoslavia, and trained with various elite US Army and Marine Units. Since leaving the army James has spent twelve years as a security and risk consultant to multi-national clients and high net worth individuals around the world. He worked as a private security contractor in Iraq from September 2003 to May 2005. He published Making a Killing in 2006. This is his second book.

Gun-for-hire James 'Ash' Ashcroft thought he'd left Iraq behind. Last time he only got out alive thanks to the bravery of his interpreter and friend Sammy. But now a call for help means Ash must once again face the chaos of war-torn Baghdad - and this time there's no pay cheque. Abandoned by the occupying Coalition Forces, Sammy and his family face certain death at the hands of the Shia-dominated Iraqi Police and the death squads that roam the streets unless Ash and his team can get in and get them to safety over the border. This is the action-packed story of their audacious escape from Baghdad. It is a gripping account of the chaos of war, where the only thing that can be relied upon is the bond between former brothers-in-arms.

James Ashcroft

This diary of death and destruction radiates not just personality, but that elusive, lyrical honesty the existentialists used to call 'authenticity'.

The Explosive Story of a Hired Gun in Iraq

In September 2003, James 'Ash' Ashcroft, a former British Infantry Captain, arrived in Iraq as a 'gun for hire'. It was the beginning of an 18-month journey into blood and chaos. 
 
In this action-packed page-turner, Ashcroft reveals the dangers of his adrenalin-fuelled life as a security contractor in Baghdad, where private soldiers outnumber non-US Coalition forces in a war that is slowly being privatised. From blow-by-blow accounts of days under mortar bombardment to revelations about life operating deep within the Iraqi community, Ashcroft shares the real, unsanitised story of the war in Iraq - and its aftermath - direct from the front line.

James Ashcroft

Praise for Making A Killing

This diary of death and destruction radiates not just personality, but that elusive, lyrical honesty the existentialists used to call 'authenticity'.

Books by James Ashcroft

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