Written by an investigative journalist, this book looks at professional killers, the people who hire them, and those who die at their hands. Among the true stories described are the story of the ultimate hitman, Carlos the Jackal, and how he was eventually brought to justice; the mother who hired a hitman to murder the wife of the son she could not bear to lose; and the story of Northern Ireland terrorist turned hitman Michael Boyle, whose hit on Jimmy Brindle, the infamous South London criminal, was captured on camera by police as he tried to execute his plan.