The Feather Men

The Feather Men is the riveting story of the efforts by a private British vigilance committee to eliminate a band of coldblooded contract killers. From 1977 to 1990, three hired assassins known as the Clinic tracked down and murdered four former British soldiers, one at a time. Each of the assassinations was carried out in such an ingenious fashion that there would be no hint of foul play, but one clue these killings had in common was that all four victims had fought in the Arabian desert. Throughout those fourteen years the Feather Men - so known because "our touch is light" - were never far behind the hit team. Finally, in the autumn of 1990, on a quiet English country lane, the Feather Men achieved a form of justice. Then - for reasons disclosed in these pages - they asked Ranulph Fiennes to reveal their spellbinding story. For many months, The Feather Men has been a number-one best-seller in England. It is a fascinating account of a tenacious double manhunt: the assassins stalking their victims and the Feather Men pursuing the assassins. It is perhaps the ultimate vigilante story, a tale that combines the white-knuckled tension of The Day of the Jackal and the revelatory drama of Spycatcher. And, at its heart, this shocking and intriguing real-life adventure raises the moral question of whether private citizens should take the law into their own hands. "However, I for one," says the author, "am truly glad that the Feather Men exist, or existed. As to my reasons...the reader will learn in what follows."