Race Against Terror

Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War

Jake Tapper

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9781668079461
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

“Not only riveting to read but also shines an essential light on the quest for justice in the modern age of terrorism.” —David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon

In this thrilling true story, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jake Tapper uncovers an investigation—unlike any other in American history—to lock up a dangerous terrorist before he’s set free.

June 2011: The case has been cold for nearly ten years when a terrorist fleeing the Arab Spring turns himself in and confesses to killing American soldiers in Afghanistan. This brazen act sets off an unlikely chain of events that puts the entirety of the American justice system to the test. They have the killer, but no evidence to prove the murders happened.

Determined to deliver justice, a team led by federal prosecutors Dave Bitkower and Shreve Ariail must traverse the globe, uncovering facts across thousands of miles and tracing shocking plots of terror in order to prevent tragedy from striking again.

Through intense reporting and meticulous recreation, Race Against Terror shows a man radicalized to enact violence, courageous soldiers who risked their lives for each other, and the diverse set of men and women who work tirelessly to stay one step ahead of disaster. In this gripping narrative history CNN’s Jake Tapper reveals the true costs of the War on Terror and delivers a salient warning for the increasing threats of extremism we face to this day

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Chapter One: The Detectives
• Chapter Two: Water
• Chapter Three: La Mafia
• Chapter Four: Jihad
• Chapter Five: Ramses
• Chapter Six: I Want to See Some Country
• Chapter Seven: The Slayers
• Chapter Eight: I’m Scared, Too
• Chapter Nine: 284 Out of 285
• Chapter Ten: What One Radicalized Man Could Do
• Chapter Eleven: Goats or Whatever
• Chapter Twelve: The Golden Hour
• Chapter Thirteen: The Roman
• Chapter Fourteen: The Lost Ark
• Chapter Fifteen: Pink Chickens
• Chapter Sixteen: Kobie Williams
• Chapter Seventeen: Diplomatic Drive
• Chapter Eighteen: The Rwandan Precedent
• Chapter Nineteen: The Arrest
• Chapter Twenty: We Need That
• Chapter Twenty-One: Kristen Green
• Chapter Twenty-Two: Susan Kellman for the Defendant
• Chapter Twenty-Three: The Tea
• Chapter Twenty-Four: Crossing Jordan
• Chapter Twenty-Five: Gobsmacked
• Chapter Twenty-Six: Mind If I Have One of Those?
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: Blackout
• Chapter Twenty-Eight: Freud
• Chapter Twenty-Nine: Love and War
• Chapter Thirty: Miss You So Much
• Chapter Thirty-One: Louisiana
• Chapter Thirty-Two: Storytellers
• Chapter Thirty-Three: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury
• Chapter Thirty-Four: You Will Not Have My Hate
• Afterword: Justice in the War on Terror
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments and Sources
• Index
• Image Descriptions
• Copyright