The terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand combat in one of the most dangerous and volatile countries in the world provides a harrowing tale of our times...
On 8 November 2004, the largest battle of the War on Terror in Iraq began, with the US Army's assault on Fallujah and its network of tens of thousands of insurgents hiding in fortified bunkers, on rooftops, and inside booby-trapped houses.
For Sgt. David Bellavia of 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, it quickly turned into a battle on foot, from street to street and house to house.
On the second day, he and his men laid siege to a mosque, only to be driven to a rooftop and surrounded, before heavy artillery could smash through to rescue them.
By the third day, Bellavia charged an insurgent-filled house and found himself trapped with six enemy fighters.
One by one, he shot, wrestled, stabbed and killed five of them, until his men arrived to take care of the final target.
This is one of the most hair-raising battle stories of any age - yet it does not spell the end of Bellavia's service.
It would take serveral more weeks before the Battle of Fallujah finally came to a close, with Bellavia miraculously alive.
In the words of the author, House to House holds nothing back. It is a raw, gritty look at killing and combat and how men react to it.
The result is gut-wrenching, shocking and brutal - and a graphic illustration of the inherent dangers of street fighting and the devastating emotional after-effects on the men who must carry out a dangerous but vital job.
(Pocket, paperback, £7.99)
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