Three Weeks in July: 7/7, The Aftermath and the Deadly Manhunt

by Adam Wishart, James Nally

Three Weeks in July is the extraordinary and definitive account of the events of the 7/7 London bombings, publishing on the 20th anniversary of the event.

The first of its kind, Three Weeks in July provides the definitive narrative on the harrowing events of 7th July 2005 and the aftermath, where chaos, confusion and terror reigned on the streets of London. A true-crime investigation woven together with high-politics and seminal history, the book will intricately explore the untold accounts of the Met’s and Government’s response to 7/7, and their desperate attempts to prevent a possible second wave.

Speaking to some of the key protagonists – including Tony Blair, Peter Clarke (Head of Anti-Terrorism at the Met), Ian Blair (then Met Police Commissioner), as well as victims and first responders whose accounts have helped chronicle the atrocity – it will piece together a never-before-told story that focuses first on the frenzy of the first hours after the attack, and the ensuing three weeks of police work, forensic investigations and political machinations that are still being felt to this day.

A seminal work of narrative nonfiction that has echoes of the likes of Three Days in June, Say Nothing and Killing Thatcher, Three Weeks in July is an essential historical document and a unique patchwork narrative that explores the inherent vulnerabilities of the state and the ethical questions connected with keeping a nation safe.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, True Crime

12 pages, Audible Audio

Published June 19, 2025

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) July 7th is my wedding anniversary but before that, and ever since, it's been known as the date of the UK's worst terrorist attack, a sort of lesser 9/11. Suicide bombers who were born in the UK but radicalized on trips to Islamic training camps in Pakistan set off explosions on three Underground trains and one London bus. I didn't think my memories of 7/7 were strong, yet some names were incredibly familiar to me (chiefly Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the attacks; Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian electrician shot dead on a Tube train when confused with a suspect in the 21/7 copycat plot - police were operating under a new shoot-to-kill policy and this was the tragic result).

Fifty-two people were killed that day, ranging in age from 20 to 60; 20 were not UK citizens, hailing from everywhere from Grenada to Mauritius. But a total of 770 people were injured. I found the authors' recreation of events very gripping, though do be warned that there is a lot of gruesome medical and forensic detail about fatalities and injuries. They humanize the scale of events and make things personal by focusing on four individuals who were injured, even losing multiple limbs, but survived and now work in motivational speaking, disability services or survivor advocacy.

What really got to me was thinking about all the hundreds of people who, 20 years on, still live with permanent pain, disability or grief because of the randomness of them or their loved ones getting caught up in a few misguided zealots' plot. One detail that particularly struck me: with the Tube tunnels closed off at both ends while searchers recovered bodies, the temperature rose to 50 degrees C (122 F), only exacerbating the stench. The book mostly avoids cliches and overwriting, though I did find myself skimming in places. It is based on the research done for a BBC documentary series and synthesizes a lot of material in an engaging way that does justice to the victims.

[Lynda Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the cheeriest read during the Christmas season but a very fascinating and informative one. Though I could feel my blood pressure rising as I came close to spontaneous combustion reading of things going on 20 years ago and then look around our country and NOTHING has changed....our government still does nothing to prevent (and I use THAT term loosely as well) this bunch killing and raping and invading our country. All the promises made post 7/7 have come to naught. Tony Blair's remarks about "the primary role of the state is to protect public safety" is an utter joke. These days, they couldn't give a flying about public safety, they're too busy locking Brits up that post tweets that might offend this bunch of miscreants. He also said that, "We will not rest until this evil is driven from our world" !! Really, Tone ? So how come we have seen thousands upon thousands being boated in or flown in on a daily basis STILL ?? Nothing has improved at all. We just pee away more and more money on them, whether in hotels harbouring them illegally or shelling out benefits for them to sit around and breed or keeping them in our prisons......which at time of writing make up 24% of England's prison population, though they are "only" 8% of our population !! Funny, that......
And again 20 years ago some of the bombers were on a list and known to MI5, etc....and STILL we hear this almost every time another atrocity occurs. It's beyond depressing. Let's face it, folks, when Sir David Amess was hacked down I knew we were doomed because nothing has changed, except hundreds of thousands more have been boated in and housed on our dime !! EVEN after one of their own died. So why would they care about OUR public safety ?? Questions were asked about what had happened to our society.....but for me it's just jaw-dropping that still we let them in like a plague and nothing, just nothing is being done to stop them. We'll be sorry. Those permitting them entry won't.....it will be you or me that suffers for this. They're just fine, the powers-that-be in their little ivory offices !!
I'd forgotten Blair was also hosting the G8 performance on 7/7......again, trying to fix the problem of poverty in Africa.......which, again, has been an issue for all the 5 decades I've been alive !! More of our money peed away, consistently, when the biggest problem in Africa is Africans that can't get their own houses in order. So these days they rock up here and are gradually turning our country into the same type of pighole they've originated from !!
I was shocked too that they had all the relatives, etc. call a hotline they had the gall to set up on a premium rate 0870 number at the time. Appalling stuff. Then the security services were worried about going up to Leeds mob-handed to sort out where these bombers had come from about THEIR people and civil disturbances caused by them !! Appeasing as opposed to attacking them. We're still at it 2 decades later. One northern MP ruminated about the tolerance of the native population......well, it's clearly illustrated these days that we're not permitted to be INtolerant nowadays, cos' it means we're banged up for having the temerity to complain.
There are some very, very harrowing descriptions of the victims' terrible, terrible injuries in this book. And how the police and emergency and forensic services live with the terrible things they witnessed is beyond me. The fact they mentioned deploying dogs down in the stations overnight and why was particularly awful, I thought.....
As was the Menezes shooting by mistake, although, reading the behind-the-scenes truth of his killing I could understand why he was targeted. It was a day after the four TEMU versions of the 7/7 murderers tried replicating their actions on 21/7, he lived in the same building as one of those guys who'd legged it, and his actions regarding a bus trip did look decidedly suspicious. Plus they could see he was of a foreign persuasion. They were wrong BUT if he had been the chap they were after and he'd gone onto that tube train and set off a device, can you imagine the outcry then ?? They were doomed if they did, doomed if they didn't. It's not a decision I'd have wanted to make in the heat of the moment.
After police raided the places these guys were renting it turned out they were prepared for a small war.....20 years ago, folks. So what do we think thousands more young men nowadays are doing all day long, aside from what many get caught doing ? Sitting about reading books ? Playing computer games ? I think not.....security services wondered back then what the answer was going to be now the suicide bombers had become a "thing"....well, bringing in thousands upon thousands more isn't the answer.....call me stupid !!! It was a shocker too that the Home Office back then flatly refused to hold an independent enquiry into the precise knowledge they'd had on these bombers pre-atrocities !!
All in all, it left me aggravated beyond belief and quite depressed, as nothing has really changed in over twenty years, except we're encouraging more and more to arrive, and god forbid we complain about the increased sex crimes and rubbish all over our streets, etc....the way too many of them live is just not compatible with 21st century Britain, but we're having it forced upon us. I'm just relieved I don't have kids and that I'm no longer young. If I had known 40 years ago what I know now I'd have emigrated. To Hungary. Sooner or later WE'RE going to be refugees......because even after all this time we're still appeasing. We've learnt nothing.
He wrote conside not consider, inquiry not enquiry, they'll not there'll, dropped the odd question mark and fullstop but that was it for errors. It was very well written.
I'd never seen that disclaimer that was used at the beginning of the book, either, regarding AI. That's a new one, though no doubt we'll see a lot more of it.
I understand there's also a film/documentary based around this book so I am going to track that down and take a look.....maybe when I'm not so much at a risk of having a stroke if I watch it !!

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book exactly 20 years to the week that the UK had witnessed another determined co-ordinated suicide attack on 21st July 2005 and the tragic shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on 22nd July 2005.

Adam Wishart and James Nally have written an incredible account of those three horrendous weeks in July 2005 that anyone interested in the history of the UK, Islamic extremism or terrorism should read.

I was gripped by the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into the 7th July bombings on the London transport system. The combination of CCTV analysis, forensics, eyewitness testimony and family liaison that led the force to understand what had happened was mind blowing to read about.

The authors use a whole host of interviewees as primary sources for the book (they feature in the accompanying BBC TV series). They are the glue that bonds the story together. From Julie Nicholson, describing her daughter Jenny who tragically lost her life at Edgware Road, to Dave Skiffins and Clive Holland who were part of the recovery team at Russell Square station, to Ken McAulay who worked at the Aldgate bomb scene and as part of the stood down forensic arrest team at Stockwell on 22nd July. The people interviewed in this book are unforgettable figures in a story that the UK has a duty never to forget.

It isn’t an easy read in places as one obviously would expect when reading about a terrorist attack. But it is an essential piece of history and a series of events that I had been waiting to read about for a long time. Read this book.

[Rik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. Took 20 years to release a book on the event, literally i've checked regularly and bar a couple of self published kindle things and the occassional university thesis there us nothing out there. This is very well done, cover the event to build up and the aftermath with a good balance of testimony from the survivors and emergency services with the chronology of the events. As with all these things it's a tough read in places, the absolute worst of humanity and the absolute best come out in these events. Great book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a day, and a period of time in London, which I recall vividly. My husband was on a business trip and having dropped my eldest child at school, I proceeded to take my then-toddler to a music class. On the way I crossed the bridge of my local station and people were going in all directions as the overground trains had been cancelled, while, in the opposite direction, people walked from the tube station as the underground was closed. Going home after baby group, my husband's cousin called to say he was fine. 'Glad to hear it,' I replied. 'Why wouldn't you be?' 'A bomb just went off, I'm at Aldgate,' he replied.

Previously, news reports suggested power surges or derailed trains. However, having worked in the City through the IRA bombings, I suspected something more. This, though, was something new. Suicide bombers, not something seen before in London.

This book takes readers through the build-up to the attack, the day of the bombings, the investigation into who was responsible and into another wave of attempted bombings (which fortunately failed). London, during this time, felt very out of control. Living near a station I recall it was swamped with police but the reality is you cannot police public areas for long periods. The culmination of these tragic events, with so many people killed and wounded in the initial wave of bombs, was the killing of a perfectly innocent man on the tube by armed police.

For me, what resonated most was the stories of people caught up in events purely by chance - whose lives were ended or irrevocably changed because they climbed into the wrong train carriage, on the wrong day. Their stories, especially those of the survivors and those who bravely went in to help without thought of their own safety, are inspiring.

London is a large City and one I have lived in all my life. Like all Cities, it has its issues but people, generally, are kind and more will try to help you than otherwise. It gives me faith in the City I love. There are threats, but all of us, wherever we are, need to live our lives and to do so without fear. However, recalling that jumpy, nervous time, when everything and everybody felt so out of control, is a reminder of how precious life is. When you saw cars, parked for days by the station, and wondered why nobody had collected them and where they were. When Londoners came to terms with a changing world, but, as always, picked themselves up and got on with it.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book at a bookstore in London this summer and had to read it. It comes out in the U.S. on December 2, 2025.

This is about the 7/7 suicide bombings in London in 2005. As an American who loves London and had been there a few times before the attacks, I remember the first few days of this horrific event — it's like London's 9/11. In fact, I had a trip planned for London just a month after the attacks, and I stuck to my travel plans and was there in August 2005 for a week. I remember talking about the attacks with locals at the time. What I didn't realize — because the U.S. news media lost interest a few days after the attacks — was that there was a second failed attack a couple of weeks later and an ongoing manhunt, in which an innocent Brazilian man was killed by police. I'm not sure if I would have stuck to my trip if I had known that the manhunt was still ongoing just a week before my trip. I was oblivious at the time.

I've given British nonfiction books a hard time in the past. I've tried to read too many promising historical accounts that I bought in London that don't live up to the narrative nonfiction I desire, but this book doesn't fall into that camp, thankfully. This is a fantastically researched and reported book, focusing on the three terrifying weeks of the bombings, failed second attack, shooting of an innocent man by police and more. I learned so much about the police successes, failings, how the law and procedures were changed, and about the victims then and now, 20 years later.

Besides the obvious horror of the initial bombings, this book is really gruesome. It goes into detail about the bombing scenes; the horrific damage to the bodies of the murdered, the bombers and survivors; and what the first responders, eyewitnesses and police came across on the scene. You've been warned.

But it's also a detailed, very well-done account of a terrible time in London's (and our world's) history without being sensational. It's an important book, and I appreciated learning more about 7/7.

[Chloe Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Three Weeks in July is an extraordinary and definitive account of the 7/7 London bombings, publishing to mark the twentieth anniversary of the event.

This book delivers the most comprehensive narrative of the 7 July 2005 attacks and the chaos, confusion and terror that followed. A true-crime investigation interwoven with high-stakes politics and history, it reveals untold accounts of the government and Metropolitan Police response, as well as their urgent efforts to prevent a second wave of attacks.

Drawing on insights from key figures such as Tony Blair, Peter Clarke (head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch) and Sir Ian Blair (Metropolitan Police commissioner), along with victims and first responders, it chronicles the frenzy of those first hours and the pivotal three weeks of investigation, forensics and political manoeuvring whose repercussions are still being felt today.

Adam Wishart and James Nally have produced an incredible account of those three horrendous weeks in July 2005. Anyone interested in modern British history, Islamic extremism or counter-terrorism should read this. I finished it around the twentieth anniversary of the events, a time when the UK was again reflecting on the attempted attacks of 21 July 2005 and the tragic shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July 2005, an innocent man whose death remains one of the most devastating consequences of the fear and uncertainty that gripped the capital.

I was completely gripped by the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into the 7 July bombings. The combination of CCTV analysis, forensics, eyewitness testimony and family liaison that helped piece together what had happened was mind-blowing to read about. The book uses a wide range of interviewees as primary sources, many of whom also feature in the accompanying BBC TV series.

They form the emotional backbone of the story. From Julie Nicholson, who movingly describes the loss of her daughter Jenny at Edgware Road, to Dave Skiffins and Clive Holland from the recovery team at Russell Square, and Ken McAulay, who worked at the Aldgate site and was part of the stood-down forensic arrest team at Stockwell on 22 July. Each account is unforgettable and vital to preserving the memory of what the UK endured.

This is not an easy read, as one would expect from such subject matter, but it is an essential one. It is a deeply human and factual portrayal of the tragedy, written with great care and understanding for the victims, their families and survivors. It reads like a thriller in its pacing yet remains respectful and historically precise.

There are mistakes highlighted that compounded an already horrendous situation, and I was genuinely shocked by some of them. It is also very visceral in its descriptions of the aftermath, so it will not suit every reader, but it never sensationalises the events. Questions surrounding the actions of the security services are addressed with clarity, though I remain astonished at how Cressida Dick continued to progress within the Met following this event.

Three Weeks in July is an exceptional and important account of one of the most tumultuous and tragic periods in recent British history, ensuring the victims and those caught in the aftermath, including Jean Charles de Menezes, are never forgotten.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

[Judefire33 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review –

I knew a little about what happened on the 7/7 bombings in London, but this book really explained it so well.

In layman’s terms, you will read about the events that led up to the London Bombings in 2005, and you will hear from Security staff and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The book actually reads like a thriller; it’s so well written, and considering the subject, an easy read.

There are all the mistakes here that compounded a horrendous situation, and quite frankly, I was shocked at some of them! It is also very visceral and descriptive of the immediate aftermath of the bombings, so not for the weak of stomach, but it’s not glorified, it’s written with care and understanding of the victims, their families and the survivors, who we also hear from.

There were questions that needed to be asked of the security services in the weeks after the incidents, and here you will find answers to many of them.

i don’t want to sound weird, but I did enjoy this book, it’s an easy read and explained very well what happened during that fateful period in July 2005

A 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star read.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a readable though harrowing account of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. I haven’t really got a lot to say – to me it felt a thoroughly researched book with a great deal of eyewitness testimony, that felt surprisingly critical of the authorities on certain areas of this story. I can’t say I enjoyed it, of course, but I feel I have a better insight into events and some of the lessons learned from them.

Content Notes:

Warnings: Graphic descriptions throughout of a terrorist attack and the aftermath, including catastrophic injuries sustained to bomb blast victims, including fatalities, violence, gun violence, police brutality, police corruption, death..

[iCod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prescription to this
this on Audible. If you're slightly worried about the gruesome bits, you can pass them without losing the interesting narrative of the police investigation or for me that even more interesting narrative of how the young men from Yorkshire became suicide bombers.
Each chapter is quite small and it would be brilliant to listen to on a plane or on holiday when you can only do a little bit at a time.

[Paul Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the most part it is a good account of the subject if you are looking for a more detailed account of the events.

However, someway through the book, they stated that the Government sent the Special Air Squadron (SAS) to London and also referred to as such in the index. Really? If the authors can get something so simple as this wrong, for whatever reason, it left me thinking while reading the rest of the book, what else they had got wrong.

Special Air Service me thinks.

[ZzzzzzZ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Y’all had 20 years to come up with something that maybe makes sense but said no????? Clearly written by someone on the inside of this false-flag-floperation. Does not tie up anything from the past, just raises further questions, without answering the unanswered ones, yikes. Far better books out there which actually have some research gone into them. This is laughably weak FICTION at best.

[Kevin McMahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and detailed account of these terrorist incidents. Some might think it a bit gruesome but it does give a very accurate view of what police officers and staff, paramedics and fire fighters faced in the recovery of those who died or were injured. References highlighted for further reading.

[Doug Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s insanely well researched and written like a thriller - short chapters, jumping around addresses in the UK, a broad cast of interrelated characters - though it doesn’t always work. Sometimes the narrative drags but the periods of analysis are solid and the profiles of the victims can be compelling.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sound analysis of what happened and the aftermath.

[Tim Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well rounded account of the 7/7 bombings and detailed narrative of the attempted bombings of 21/7 and the police investigation that followed the failed attack.

[jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was such a powerful read of the tragic events that happened on 7/7 and the aftermath! i learnt some new things that i didnt previously know aswell, RIP to all the victims

[Ipswichblade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard going in places but an excellent read.