This is for those of us who are not police officers, bouncers or have never been out in Nottingham on a Saturday night out. Even though you practise a martial art on a regular basis, you may not have actually been involved in a proper fight. And by fight, we are not talking about the stylised sparring with rules you may participate in, even for those mixed martial artists out there. We mean an altercation where someone is actually trying to hit you because they want to hurt you, not to score points, as our author points out. “Rules have no place in real combat.” Noah Knapp has considerable experience in this field during his years working as a nightclub bouncer, with a background in “survivalised kung fu” behind him. In this brief volume, he describes some of his fighting experiences during his door work, and the techniques he uses to quell violent and badly behaved customers, some much bigger than himself.

The book is divided up into eight chapters, each dealing with a specific area of technique. The punch, kick, grapple and sweeps are all dealt with along with the attacks that may occur to various parts of the body. These are all particular methods that have been used in practise by the author. They are tried and tested and therefore, we assume, they must all work. One particular area of interest was the idea of the “Diamond Point Fighting” where one works their own personal space on a four-point plan, using the diamond points to work out where your adversaries stand and where your best line of defence or escape may lay. Good, practical advice is offered via the techniques, with some of the most useful to those who practise high kicking martial arts such as Taekwondo, as these high kicks can often cause you more problems. “One of the most important skills a fighter can master is knowing what not to do.”

However, as clear, interesting and well illustrated this book is, the reader is left wondering exactly who this book is aimed at. All of the pictures used are of the same two men demonstrating techniques with their respective defences and counter-attacks (none of which include knives or broken bottles, the staple weapon of the nightclub thug). What one is left wondering is whether anyone could use these techniques, men or women, martial artist or not. Are they specifically for bouncers or can the moves be used by others and if so, in what situations? Exactly what type of violence are we dealing with here?

Nonetheless, this book serves as a useful supplement to the martial art that you practise, giving you an idea as to what techniques work in a real fight situation, and what would cause more harm than good. This is a good reference for those who want to know what to do on a Saturday night out, especially if they find themselves in a nightclub in Los Angeles, or Nottingham.