Best selling book now available!
Personal Threat Management: The Practitioner's Guide to Keeping Clients Safer
Every practitioner meets the same question sooner or later. Someone is sending messages, turning up or fixating on a client. Is this person likely to act, or simply making noise?
Personal Threat Management is a practical guide to answering that question well, often under pressure and with incomplete information. It builds on Frederick Calhoun's distinction between Howlers, who create fear and disruption without credible intent, and Hunters, whose behaviour and access warrant serious concern. Telling them apart early decides whether a situation needs intervention or careful watching.
The book sets out clear terminology and frameworks for reading fixation and escalation, illustrated with real cases (anonymised where they involve clients). Key research is referenced throughout for readers who want to go further into the behavioural science.
It is written for security practitioners and investigators, and for anyone who advises others when the stakes are high. Public figures who want to understand their own situation will find it useful too.
What someone does usually tells you more than what they say.
Testimonials:
“Philip Grindell’s readable book is, in my view, very likely to prevent harm, and perhaps even to save lives.”
— Dr Robert A. Fein, Forensic and National Security Psychologist; co-author of Preventing Assassination: US Secret Service Exceptional Case Study Project (from the foreword)
“Philip is an unusual combination of an academic and operational expert and anyone interested in protecting themselves or others should read this book.”
— Neil Basu QPM, former Head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing
“Online death threats are depressingly common. But how do you separate them into those issued by sheer fantasists, and those coming from someone with genuinely deadly intent? In Personal Threat Management: The Practitioner’s Guide to Keeping Clients Safer, Philip Grindell explains how to spot the difference – and what to do when you realize someone really does pose a threat. Timely and valuable to anyone in the public eye.”
— Richard Madeley, writer and broadcaster
“If you are serious about security, you will find some great insights in ‘Personal Threat Management – The Practitioner’s Guide to Keeping Clients Safer.’ Phil Grindell’s professional experience and practical, real-world strategies are evident in every chapter, offering clear, actionable advice for tackling modern security challenges. Whether you’re dealing with physical security, online threats, or crisis management, this book is a comprehensive and useful guide to keeping people and assets safe.”
— G.B. Jones, former Chief Safety and Security Officer, FIFA World Cup 2026; former FBI Special Agent
“I believe that I would have benefited from such insights in the time that I served and protected the most famous person in the world.”
— Rory Stein, formerly Nelson Mandela’s bodyguard; Co-Founder, NSA Global Security Consultants
“Informed by the author’s professional experiences and illustrated with dozens of real-life case studies, Personal Threat Management provides its readers with a solid introduction to today’s threat management principles and practices. The book is easily read and readily understandable as Grindell explains basic concepts and practical approaches to keeping individuals safe. Personal Threat Management is essential reading for anyone seeking to distinguish between those who make a threat and those who pose a threat.”
— Frederick S. Calhoun, author of Effective Threat Management: A Primer
“Philip Grindell is one of the few threat assessment experts in the world with extensive experience advising public figures, politicians, and royal families. In The Practitioner’s Guide to Keeping Clients Safer, Grindell educates on the science of threat assessment and the nuanced art of managing victim fear. His compassionate view of ensuring clients feel safer demonstrates why his expertise is in demand. This is a book for threat assessment practitioners by a true practitioner.”
— Gabrielle Thompson, Threat Assessment Expert and Consultant to Public Figures and Corporations
