The embattled regime of Bashar Assad unleashed a rolling wave of all-out military assaults on its own people that Mr Assad says is now “stopped”.
The book requires some faith in Mr Ellroy's project; he does not seduce, he assaults.
But we cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy, and his forces step up their assaults on cities like Benghazi and Misrata.
Attacks by Qaeda militants in Yemen have picked up again, with several deadly assaults on Yemeni army convoys in recent weeks.
But don't hurl random assaults at others and take for granted that whatever you say is truth.
The assaults have rattled largely peaceful Norway, home to the Nobel Prize for peace and where the average policeman patrolling in the streets doesn't carry a firearm.
Critics of the President have listed arson attacks, death threats and physical assaults.
Not everyone on the team was accustomed to helicopter assaults.