Started but did not finish. Similar to "The Count of Monte Cristo" in that both, after the initial exposition, just keep retelling a similar series of events for the rest of the book. In this case each time an assassin is neutralized and the threat appears to be over, another wider, more perverse and less believable ring of the conspiracy is introduced and a new round of struggle begins. ( )

Jack London's unfinished novel, finished by another. The premise is just fabulous; the leader of a gang of assassins-for-hire is hired to have himself assassinated by his own employees...chaos ensues, along with much philosphising and humour.

The moral enigma at the centre of the story is (weirdly) reminiscent of that faced by Gawain when he has to go to the Green Chapel - and in my mind the solution is the same, too.

The tone of the novel is uniform to such an extent that I did not notice the transition from London's own work to that of the person who finished the novel. Both authors were on top form for this one, which could be said to be in the same vein as The Sea-wolf, but with tongue stuck firmly in cheek. ( )

Review first posted at BookLikes:
http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/804739/the-assassination-bureau

“You know it is our rule never to fill an order until we are satisfied that it is socially justifiable,” Dragomiloff observed quietly.

The Assassination Bureau is an organisation hired killers managed by the enigmatic Dragomiloff, but they do not just kill anyone for money. Oh, no. Their credo is that the killing must benefit society. And Dragomiloff and his madmen go to quite some lengths to ensure the background checks on their victims are thorough. However, one day, a client manages to convince Dragomiloff that he takes exception to one of their projects and hires The Assassination Bureau to assassinate Dragomiloff because of his mistake - the unjustifiable killing of a previous victim. And so the hunt begins...

When I thought of Jack London, I thought of Call of the Wild, White Fang and of the short stories about hobos traveling the country jumping from one railway to another that we read in eight grade English Lit class.

The very last story I would have associated Jack London with is The Assassination Bureau, which prior to reading I only knew as a film starring Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg. Having seen the film, I always thought of The Assassination Bureau being set in Europe in the 60s. I can't remember whether the film contained this or whether my memory just associates it with this setting because of the actors, but this is the image I get. So, it was quite a shock when I read that the actual book was set in the US in 1911.

I mean to think of 1910/11, years before the Russian Revolution, still years before the Great War even, and have a story that defies the social and philosophical boundaries which seemed to have enveloped most of the western world - it is just astounding. ( )

Very interesting concept, unfortunately left incomplete by London, and finished by Fish, known for rather feeble humorous mysteries (Schlock Holmes) and more serious Brazilian detectives stories. In the story, Ivan Dragomiroff runs the highly organized assassination bureau, which undertakes to assassinate prominent people for a fee --but only if he decides they need killing. The story begins with his being hired by an anarchist to kill a brutally anti-radical police chief, for $10,000, but he indicates he would do the king of England for half a million. He indicates in the past he has worked for ordinary business competitors or the like as well as anarchists. Then he is hired to kill himself, on the argument he has too much power. He duly sets his own organization against himself. This edition is linked to a film version based on the 'idea" of the book and starrng, among others, my favorite Diana Rigg (aka Mrs. Peel of The Avengers). ( )

This little novelette is a fun – but also challenging – piece of work. Is it Jack London’s best work? No. Far from it. But it was sufficiently stimulating to get me to go back and read his short story “To Build a Fire” – which I consider to be one of the finest in American literature, and which I first read over thirty years ago.

Whatever you may think of the conceit of this story – and there are many here who question it, and who also suggest that the story falls flat at the end (which I quite disagree with) – I can’t help but be impressed by London’s command, given the brevity of his formal education, of some major ethical and metaphysical concepts. These are naturally and fluently brought out in the several discussions among the members of the Assassination Bureau, Ltd. – the eponymous title of this novelette.

Does The Assassination Bureau, Ltd. move a reader in the same way that “To Build a Fire,” White Fang or The Call of the Wild might? No. Certainly not. But the swan’s song work of a writer of Jack London’s stature – not to mention Robert L. Fish’s work in completing the story – are certainly worth an adventurous reader’s attention.

RRB
Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
07/06/14
( )