The writing is effective, but far from brilliant, and the stories go from the dealing with addiction back in London, uninteresting for war history buffs, to the gory details of war, which the author uses as starting points to reflect on war at various levels.

Loyd has used a zoom lens to put his readers nose to nose with the surreal and horrifying brutalities [in Bosnia] .These were confused moments, though once in place it took the fighters only seconds to understand the full horror unfolding before their eyes. How some Swedish peacekeepers backed off from the courageous move to free a score of Muslim prisoners from their Croatian captors after a visiting BBC team decided the scene was too dangerous to film. Loyd admits right off that he isn't interested in journalism -- that for him it's just a passport to war. The former soldier who fled depression and drug addiction in England to cover Europe's bloodiest conflict since the Second World War recounts extraordinary stories of brutality and compassion he recorded while in both Bosnia and Chechnya. While those of us who are fortunate enough never to have been in a war zone will (thankfully) never know the true horror of war, it is important that we try to understand.

Lloyd does not attempt to cover up the worst aspects of the war, so readers should be prepared for some difficult reading. Loyd masterfully illustrates the sheer hatred displayed by humanity and the brutality humans are capable of inflicting on each other. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged.

In the short span of this war which I’m sure felt very long to the residents over 100,000 people (some reports as high as 250,000) are killed, 20,000 to 50,000 women are raped, and 2. People who have lived together in harmony for generations suddenly found themselves on opposite sides of conflict they could barely understand. I was struck by Anthony’s work and words, experiences, and for me his is an important voice and an important book. His friends in London lack the ability to sympathize, or grasp Loyd’s internal conflict, with being home and away from the powerful emotional pull of war. an account that demystifies war and the war reporter and strips them bare before the reader' Peter Beaumont, Observer | 'Undoubtedly the most powerful and immediate book to emerge from the Balkan horror of ethnic civil war .