cover image The Killing Game: Martyrdom, Murder, and the Lure of ISIS

The Killing Game: Martyrdom, Murder, and the Lure of ISIS

Mark Bourrie. HarperCollins Canada/Patrick Crean Editions, $32.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-44344-701-0

Journalist and historian Bourrie (Kill the Messengers) asks why Canadian citizens and other Westerners have been drawn to join ISIS, examining the history and recruitment strategy of the jihadist terror group. Bourrie's analysis is strongest when he focuses on the organization's indoctrination methods. He describes recruits' "quest for significance" to create what they consider to be the model Islamic state and examines how violence creates "bonds of atrocity," separating recruits (especially those from the West) from their home countries, families, and previous lives. Examples of this indoctrination, such as training children to kill using "blood dolls" and the use of Twitter to document ISIS atrocities, are presented in chilling detail. The book illustrates the challenges around combatting ISIS's appeal in Canada through "deprogramming" efforts. Bourrie presents parallel examples of non-jihadist terrorism and other historical anecdotes of war and glorified nationalism as a way of explaining the attraction of combat and "martyrdom," but at times this information seems digressive. The book succeeds most in telling the stories of jihadist recruits such as John Maguire, who made an ISIS propaganda video, and Michael Zehaf-Bribeau, who attacked the Canadian parliament. Bourrie depicts the tragic costs and wasted lives behind the radicalization of young men eager to embrace ISIS's ideology. (Mar.)