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Sniper: Inside the Hunt for the Killers Who Terrorized the Nation
Sniper is the behind-the-scenes story of one of the most frightening rampages to occur in U.S. history—and how it was stopped.
For more than three weeks, the nation watched in disbelief as Washington, D.C., and its surrounding suburbs were held hostage by anonymous gunmen shooting innocent civilians at random. Sniper is the definitive account of those alleged gunmen, John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, and the massive manhunt that ended with their capture by a heavily armed SWAT team in an early-morning raid at an interstate highway rest stop.
Two Washington Post reporters, Sari Horwitz and Michael E. Ruane, retrace the steps of Muhammad and Malvo from their first meeting on the island of Antigua to Malvo’s defiant confession in a Virginia jail. Drawing on exclusive reporting about that confession, internal police documents, and a wide range of law-enforcement sources, Horwitz and Ruane track in remarkable detail the murderous trail Muhammad and Malvo are accused of having followed to the Washington area and reconstruct the eerie way in which the two moved invisibly around the nation’s capital in the midst of one of the largest police investigations in U.S. history.
Horwitz and Ruane also take you inside the police command center where local and state police, joined by the federal government’s most experienced crime fighters, worked desperately to stop the killings, unaware that a fundamental error—investigators were wrongly fixated on a white van—was allowing Muhammad and Malvo to slip through the dragnet. We meet FBI negotiators, veteran detectives, forensics experts, prosecutors, and politicians who faced perhaps the biggest challenge of their careers as they confronted frustrating setbacks, logistical nightmares, and the overwhelming pressure of a high-stakes investigation. In a fast-paced narrative that outdoes even the most acclaimed television cop shows, Sniper recounts the extraordinary police work that enabled investigators to quickly exploit the clues handed to them by Muhammad and Malvo that finally led to their arrest.
Part gripping drama, part real-life portrait of law enforcement at work, Sniper is also a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of American society in an age of terrorism.
For more than three weeks, the nation watched in disbelief as Washington, D.C., and its surrounding suburbs were held hostage by anonymous gunmen shooting innocent civilians at random. Sniper is the definitive account of those alleged gunmen, John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, and the massive manhunt that ended with their capture by a heavily armed SWAT team in an early-morning raid at an interstate highway rest stop.
Two Washington Post reporters, Sari Horwitz and Michael E. Ruane, retrace the steps of Muhammad and Malvo from their first meeting on the island of Antigua to Malvo’s defiant confession in a Virginia jail. Drawing on exclusive reporting about that confession, internal police documents, and a wide range of law-enforcement sources, Horwitz and Ruane track in remarkable detail the murderous trail Muhammad and Malvo are accused of having followed to the Washington area and reconstruct the eerie way in which the two moved invisibly around the nation’s capital in the midst of one of the largest police investigations in U.S. history.
Horwitz and Ruane also take you inside the police command center where local and state police, joined by the federal government’s most experienced crime fighters, worked desperately to stop the killings, unaware that a fundamental error—investigators were wrongly fixated on a white van—was allowing Muhammad and Malvo to slip through the dragnet. We meet FBI negotiators, veteran detectives, forensics experts, prosecutors, and politicians who faced perhaps the biggest challenge of their careers as they confronted frustrating setbacks, logistical nightmares, and the overwhelming pressure of a high-stakes investigation. In a fast-paced narrative that outdoes even the most acclaimed television cop shows, Sniper recounts the extraordinary police work that enabled investigators to quickly exploit the clues handed to them by Muhammad and Malvo that finally led to their arrest.
Part gripping drama, part real-life portrait of law enforcement at work, Sniper is also a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of American society in an age of terrorism.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
12 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 10, 2015
Lived it. Brought back a lot of memories of pumping gas, shopping, driving around Fredericksburg during that time. I remember semis pulling around gas stations to offer customers protection. And people walking zig zag through the Spotsylvania Mall parking lot. Wondering how many times that blue Caprise drove by.
April 25, 2025
This is a riveting account of a 2002 case that horrified the nation and put the DC suburbs on terror alert. I remember thinking how fortunate I was because I left there in the spring of 1999. This is a horror story in which 10 people died at the hands of two heinously evil men, John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.
You read with horror of the sniper attacks on people who were intent on living their lives. They nonchalantly bought food, mowed lawns, and attempted to drive buses. The authors display the uncertainty and randomness of the killings in stark and highly readable ways.
You see the maddening near misses as cop after cop runs the tag on the Caprice the men drove. When the tag came back without alerts, they let the car go. That’s understandable, but those near misses are hard to read about.
The authors provide a good look at the communities where the killings happened and the impact of those killings on everyone.
Naturally, they cover the arrests in a rest area and the wrangling over which jurisdiction would prosecute the men. The book doesn’t touch on the trials.
I thought about how easy it would have been for the two of them to nonchalantly pick me off while waiting for a bus, and I suspect they would have found satanically perverse pleasure in killing my guide dog. It’s rare, but there apparently are times when I know when to get out of a place.
You read with horror of the sniper attacks on people who were intent on living their lives. They nonchalantly bought food, mowed lawns, and attempted to drive buses. The authors display the uncertainty and randomness of the killings in stark and highly readable ways.
You see the maddening near misses as cop after cop runs the tag on the Caprice the men drove. When the tag came back without alerts, they let the car go. That’s understandable, but those near misses are hard to read about.
The authors provide a good look at the communities where the killings happened and the impact of those killings on everyone.
Naturally, they cover the arrests in a rest area and the wrangling over which jurisdiction would prosecute the men. The book doesn’t touch on the trials.
I thought about how easy it would have been for the two of them to nonchalantly pick me off while waiting for a bus, and I suspect they would have found satanically perverse pleasure in killing my guide dog. It’s rare, but there apparently are times when I know when to get out of a place.
Read
January 30, 2008I have to admit that I didnt read this front to back, but started reading where Ms Muhammed is informed that her children have been found, and the her reaction to that "They found my babies", really got hooked into the story, because of my simular experiences with having to deal with two boys taken away from me for child neglect and or from my mother and etc. The main storyline is very compelling telling us that sudden death could have been any one of us.
October 6, 2020
Overall, this was a good, well written narrative about the DC sniper. While I was in 5th grade when this happened, I remembered some parts of this, especially the fear of being in the open and wondering if things would come closer to Indiana where I live. The authors did an excellent job crafting the book as a narrative, weaving together the stories of the snipers and those of the investigation. I just wish I had the finished copy with the judges’ decisions, because without those it seems like the story isn’t really over. Otherwise, I think this was excellently done.
May 16, 2022
I enjoyed this one and it kept me engaged for the most part. I have listened to the audio book called “Call me God” several times and that is just so well done in regards to the beltway sniper crime it is hard for anything to compare. This is pretty comprehensive and tells a lot about the victims which is always interesting to me as they do tend to get lumped into a “number”. Overall, well worth the read.
September 13, 2024
Great book! A taut, no nonsense recollection of all aspects of this case, good and bad. I appreciated the straightforward narrative style. Lots of good information about this case is presented here, and it made for a compelling deep dive into the case. Fascinating to read about the stuff they got right, and also the stuff they missed that dragged the investigation on (like the obsession with the mysterious white van).
February 26, 2025
Ugh. Such horrible acts.
Read
January 30, 2008This is first edition of "Sniper" followed by the updated version that takes us to judges ultimate sanction on John Muhammad.
Though this is not a novel or fiction, I like the fact that it is told simular to a story with documentary here and there.
The sequence of events shift around a bit, starting with actual first of the Sniper Attacks Oct 1, 2002, with one window shot out then the first murder in a groceystore parking lot.
The story now jumps back to the origins of John and Lee's roots of rage, including his abduction of his children and leaving his exwife Mildred , clueless to where her children were for 18 months. Evenually Mildred got her kids and disappear forever leaving John a family of one. Then after two months being apart Malvo join forces with John, much to the chargin of his real mother.
The chapter with "A Rifle At Rush Hour' is where the story stay s in one direction. I love the how the authors were able to shift back and forth to the law enforcement clan to the snipers
cruising around town in there Chevy Caprice with extra leg room in the back. and so on, white box trucks were initially what the cops suspected, until weeks later when a finger print from a gun magazine was observed in a federal database with a hit going to Lee Malvo, with a memo of John Muhammed in a currently dispute with spouse. This is where all the seemingly unrelated pieces to the puzzle finally come together.
Though this is not a novel or fiction, I like the fact that it is told simular to a story with documentary here and there.
The sequence of events shift around a bit, starting with actual first of the Sniper Attacks Oct 1, 2002, with one window shot out then the first murder in a groceystore parking lot.
The story now jumps back to the origins of John and Lee's roots of rage, including his abduction of his children and leaving his exwife Mildred , clueless to where her children were for 18 months. Evenually Mildred got her kids and disappear forever leaving John a family of one. Then after two months being apart Malvo join forces with John, much to the chargin of his real mother.
The chapter with "A Rifle At Rush Hour' is where the story stay s in one direction. I love the how the authors were able to shift back and forth to the law enforcement clan to the snipers
cruising around town in there Chevy Caprice with extra leg room in the back. and so on, white box trucks were initially what the cops suspected, until weeks later when a finger print from a gun magazine was observed in a federal database with a hit going to Lee Malvo, with a memo of John Muhammed in a currently dispute with spouse. This is where all the seemingly unrelated pieces to the puzzle finally come together.
March 26, 2015
Great background
I was living and working in the Baltimore/DC area when the snipers were at large and also 9 months pregnant. This story is great by providing all of the behind the scenes events and the major players during the investigation. I learned a lot. Definitely a Good Read.
I was living and working in the Baltimore/DC area when the snipers were at large and also 9 months pregnant. This story is great by providing all of the behind the scenes events and the major players during the investigation. I learned a lot. Definitely a Good Read.
April 6, 2011
I was disappointed. I was looking for something that got into the legal trials of the two. This was a "blow by blow" account. It's a fine book to read, just not what I was looking for, I suppose.
May 1, 2017
I was amazed by the lack of information shared between the different agencies - the FBI, local police, US Marshalls. Fair background information is given about the snipers. It felt a little bit long but fairly interesting book if you like true crime / police investigation stories.
Read
January 30, 2008This is an update from the first edition. More details at the crime scenes shown, here, nice added into the story .
January 19, 2010
This book is well documented and includes a lot of information I was not aware of. It all is a compelling read bringing back memories of that time which does not seem all that long ago
April 25, 2012
This was a very interesting read to learn about these shootings.
August 25, 2012
I'm a sucker for true crime books, so I enjoyed this.
November 29, 2012
A scary truth about the snipers that terrorized northern Virginia. An insight on what happened and history of the killers. Definitly worth the read
May 26, 2015
Thorough review of the Beltway Sniper attacks during October of 2002. The writing is clear and descriptive and focuses entirely on the incident.
July 23, 2018
A well researched, facts driven account of the DC snipers.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews