Hunting the Unabomber: The FBI, Ted Kaczynski, and the Capture of America’s Most Notorious Domestic Terrorist

Today’s review is on Hunting the Unabomber: The FBI, Ted Kaczynski, and the Capture of America’s Most Notorious Domestic Terrorist by Lis Wiehl. It is 315 pages long and is published by Nelson Books. The cover is red with Kaczynski’s mugshot in the center. The intended reader is someone who is interested in the Unabomber, true crime, and the FBI. There is foul language, no sex, and discussion of violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- On April 3, 1996, a team of FBI agents closed in on an isolated cabin in remote Montana, marking the end of the longest and most expensive investigation in FBI history. The cabin's lone inhabitant was a former mathematics prodigy and wunderkind professor who had abandoned society decades earlier. Few people knew his name, Theodore Kaczynski, but everyone knew the mayhem and death associated with his nickname: the Unabomber.

For two decades, Kaczynski had masterminded a campaign of random terror, killing and maiming innocent people through bombs sent in untraceable packages. The FBI task force charged with finding the perpetrator of these horrifying crimes grew to 150 people, yet his identity remained a maddening mystery. Then, in 1995, a "manifesto" from the Unabomber was published in the New York Times and Washington Post, resulting in a cascade of tips--including the one that cracked the case.

With access to new primary sources and exclusive interviews with key law enforcement officials, New York Times bestselling author and former federal prosecutor Lis Wiehl meticulously reconstructs the white-knuckle, tension-filled hunt to identify and capture the mysterious killer. A revelatory, historical thriller of the years-long battle of wits between the FBI and the brilliant-but-criminally insane Kaczynski, Hunting the Unabomber is the spellbinding account of the most complex and captivating manhunt in American history.

Review-  A fascinating account of the hunt for America's most notorious serial bomber told by someone who has access to the original documents, the FBI and other agents who worked the case, and even to Kaczynski's brother himself. Wiehl was a federal prosecutor but now she has decided to write about the hunt for the Unabomber across some 14 years from the time they realized that they had a serial bomber on their hands to the time that he was arrested and in court. Because she was a prosecutor, people were willing to speak to her that otherwise might not be willing to speak to another true crime author because they understand that she knows what they went through to catch this man.  The writing style is engaging narrative without being pedantic, and the notes are fantastic in the back. Being able to hear first-hand from the agents who worked the case gives this book an edge over other pieces that may have been written about the Unabomber and the hunt for him. Wiehl gives the reader insight into Kaczynski's mind, his past, and what potentially drove him to send the bombs. All of the sympathy is given to his victims and to the agents that worked his case tirelessly and at times against politics to catch this man; Kaczynski is seen as a very mentally sick man but one who understood what he was doing to others every time he sent out a package. If you were interested in the Unabomber or the hunt for him in general I highly recommend this book. 

I give this book of Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.