Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Middle East security expert Katz (The Ghost Warrior) delivers a dramatic account of the secret mission by U.S. and Jordanian intelligence agents to avenge the "capture, torture, and immolation" of Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh by ISIS fighters in Syria. After the engine in Moaz's plane caught fire on Dec. 24, 2014, he parachuted into the Euphrates River near Raqqa and was captured. He was likely killed on January 3, though ISIS maintained that he was alive until February, when they released horrific video footage of his death. According to Katz, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani (who is believed to have participated in the killing) hoped to break Jordan's resolve to be part of the international coalition fighting against the Caliphate; instead, the video had the opposite effect. Katz chronicles the multinational effort--led by the GID, Jordan's intelligence agency--to locate the five terrorists responsible for Moaz's death and design and implement missions to execute them. Against the backdrop of this spy tale, Katz briskly untangles the history of the Syrian civil war and the campaign against ISIS. Though Katz's staccato prose can be clunky, he packs a wealth of information into the book and skillfully draws on an extensive network of sources in the U.S. and the Middle East. Espionage fans will savor this detailed and immersive account. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In 2014, Jordanian Airforce First Lieutenant Moaz al-Kasabeh was captured while leading a mission against ISIS. His captors beat and tortured him and then burned him alive, an act that Jordan's King Abdullah was determined to avenge. Katz (Harpoon), a prolific writer on international terrorism and military operations, presents a gripping account of reprisals against the five top ISIS leaders who masterminded the murder. The author skillfully pieces together the story of the uneasy alliance of Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID), Russia, and the CIA and other U.S. allies, who managed to work together to kill al-Kasabeh's murderers, the last one in 2017. Included are chilling stories of EMNI, ISIS's intelligence department that thrived on murdering citizens as well as details about Al-Adnani, the ISIS henchman responsible for promoting al-Kasabeh's murder on social media and for planning the 2015 attacks on the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, bombings at a French soccer match, and at the Brussels airport and subway system. VERDICT This detailed but swift narrative will fascinate readers of nonfiction espionage. See James Verini's They Will Have To Die Soon for a first-person account of bloody warfare with ISIS.--Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Middle East security expert Katz offers a revealing account of how Jordan, the United States, and global allies engaged in covert acts of vengeance to eliminate top leaders of the Islamic State group. In 2014, a young Jordanian Air Force pilot was captured and burned to death by terrorists after his fighter aircraft crashed near Raqqa, Syria, during a combat sortie aimed at destroying an arsenal and other targets. In the carefully staged and filmed execution, the airman was caged, covered with gasoline, and set afire. Terrorists hoped the "horrifying" death, later broadcast widely, would rally Muslims to their cause. Instead, writes Katz, it prompted retribution that lit "the fuse of the Islamic State's destruction." In this absorbing narrative, the author uses the story of the pilot and the subsequent killing of top IS leaders responsible for his capture and murder (including the war minister and the social media guru) as a way to explore the inner workings of the international anti-terror alliance, especially the close military intelligence ties between the CIA and Jordan, deemed a "buffer that helped an unstable region maintain periods of peace and status quo." Against the background of the terrorist organization, which "caught everyone by surprise," Katz details the fall of oil-rich Mosul; the complex relationships within the multinational anti-terror coalition, with its many air forces held together by electronic communication; and the coalition's combat sorties against terrorist targets in Iraq and Syria. The author draws on interviews with soldiers and intelligence officials to recount decision-making inside the CIA "espionage hub" at Amman Station, Jordan's top-flight anti-terrorist agency the General Intelligence Directorate, and the ruling council of IS, whose massive media operation ("likened to CNN and Britain's BBC") worked ceaselessly to win Muslim allies and recruit "middle-class jobless college-educated sons in the kingdom." An authoritative book that captures a critical moment in the war against IS and underscores the group's ruthlessness. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
