Red Line

Joby Warrick tells the story of President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons program, from the dormant period when it was holstered in vats in facilities scattered around the country, to its use against civilians, to its supposed dismantling. . . Warrick presents it sharply and compellingly. --The Washington Post Much has been written about the use of chemical weapons during the war in Syria, but the accounts are partial. The virtue of Warrick's book is that it provides a panoramic reconstruction of the chemical attack and its aftermath. We see it from the eyes of survivors, doctors, activists, disarmament experts, diplomats, and policymakers. The book cuts from scenes on the ground in Eastern Ghouta, to the U.N. inspectors in Damascus, to National Security Council meetings in the White House, telling the story with urgency and clarity. --Newsline Joby Warrick . . . has produced another highly readable and well-sourced work, a bleak but real-life thriller. Its characters include ordinary Syrians, spies, diplomats, UN experts and Americans who worked hard to destroy Assad's chemical weapons arsenal, only to discover that they had not completed their task. --The Guardian This riveting narrative . . . reads like a thriller . . . Warrick's vivid portraits of so many of the diverse inviduals involved, from victims to American engineers and U.N. investigators, provide a devastating perspective on the civil war in Syria. --The National Book Review A pleasure to read, Red Line also comprises a valuable addition to the growing literature on the war in Syria. . . the book includes equally compelling accounts with characters ranging from UN weapons inspectors and Syrian doctors to Islamic State operatives planning their own chemical attacks. In Warrick's hands, their experiences come alive. --The National Interest 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. . . comprehensive and electric. --Publishers Weekly An unsettling look at the extraordinarily brutal civil war that has engulfed Syria since 2011. . . Warrick delivers a vivid account. --Kirkus Engrossing . . . This gripping investigation of the challenges of Middle East politics will engage informed general readers and foreign policy specialists. --Library Journal