Warrick maintains a sense of proportion ... Overwhelmingly, Warrick’s emphasis is where it should be, on Assad, for whom chemical weapons were a highly developed and strategic program of terror ... Toxic-waste disposal is not, on its surface, the most promising subject matter for a nonfiction thriller, but Warrick presents it sharply and compellingly.
... engrossing ... This gripping investigation of the challenges of Middle East politics will engage informed general readers and foreign policy specialists.
... highly readable and well-sourced ... a bleak but real-life thriller ... some parts of this grim story are heartening ... The author draws helpfully on the memoirs of Ben Rhodes, Obama’s speech-writer, UN ambassador Samantha Power, and Trump’s hawkish national security adviser, John Bolton.
... [a] vigorous true-life thriller ... Warrick balances harrowing reports of poisoned children dying of paralysis and asphyxiation with vibrant character sketches of Syrian spies and medical workers, UN chemical-weapons investigators braving sniper fire, and American engineers facing toxic spills, hostile environmentalist flotillas, and the possible capsizing of their ship. The focus on chemical weapons somewhat obscures the much larger toll of death and destruction taken by conventional weapons in Syria, but Warrick delivers a comprehensive and electric tale. Espionage fans and military history buffs will be enthralled.
