[A] masterly account ... It has never been recounted so pleasurably as it has been here. In Macintyre’s telling, the gunmen are sympathetic and deceived, idealists ensnared in a dark world of Middle Eastern trickery ... Threaded with complex side characters and sharp subplots.
Macintyre adds real value to our understanding of what occurred in those six days with his deeply humane and encyclopedic book. He is particularly compelling in the portraits he puts together of the dramatis personae ... Macintyre’s portrait of Towfiq Ibrahim al-Rashidi, the leader of the terrorists, is exquisite ... The most original parts of Mr. Macintyre’s book are those in which the author explores the relationships that emerge between the captors and their hostages.
Gripping ... Macintyre’s latest is a cracking procedural ... One of the strengths of The Siege is its three-dimensional portraits of the terrorists. Macintyre offers crucial background that both explains their commitment to their cause and demonstrates their wrongheadedness ... Given that most of those involved were men, the story is at times marked by period chauvinism ... But he’s also a clear-eyed narrator and knows when to offer notes of mild reproach.
Fresh and gripping ... Macintyre preserves the hostages’ story in magnificent, humane style – and offers another swashbuckling tribute to their rescuers ... The book is equally vivid in its portraits of the gunmen and hostages, and the complex power-relationships that develop between them.
He gives greater room to the feelings of the hostages, the shifting emotions of their captors and the interplay between the two groups. Macintyre’s achievement is that his account is the more gripping for it ... Macintyre skilfully balances the demands of evoking the tension inherent in the situation with objective analysis of it.
A rousing saga ... Without demonizing those involved, Macintyre provides a nuanced, perceptive analysis of the intense emotions roiling a high-stakes standoff.
