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

by Lis Wiehl, Lisa Pulitzer

From Lis Wiehl, New York Times bestselling author and "storyteller extraordinaire" (Steve Berry), with New York Times bestselling crime writer Lisa Pulitzer, the definitive, gripping account of the longest pursuit in FBI history: the quest to find and capture the domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski

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.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime, Audiobook, Philosophy, Biography

Audible Audio

First published April 28, 2020

About the author

Lis Wiehl is a New York Times bestselling author of both fiction and nonfiction books, a journalist, an attorney, and a legal expert. She is the former legal analyst for Fox News, former co-host of WOR radio's “WOR Tonight with Joe Concha and Lis Wiehl,” and was an anchor for the Law & Crime network (a multi-media live trial network). Lis Wiehl hosted the podcast Pursuit of Justice with Lis Wiehl and until recently was an adjunct professor of Law at New York Law School. Lis is the author of eighteen books, including the first in The Hunting Series, Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter, out in paperback from Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins on June 25, 2019.

Lis Wiehl is one of the nation’s most highly regarded commentators and legal experts. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Wiehl practiced law in a private law firm in Seattle where she also wrote by-lined articles on legal issues for The New York Times. From there she went on to become a third generation federal prosecutor (her grandfather and her father — an FBI agent — were also federal prosecutors) in the US Attorney's Office in Seattle. She served as the Deputy Chief Investigative Counsel for Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee during President Clinton’s impeachment. From 1995 to 2001, she was a tenured law professor at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, where she ran the Trial Advocacy Program, which won several national awards during her tenure.

During her time at the University of Washington, Wiehl also stepped deeper into journalism by working as a reporter and legal analyst for NPR's All Things Considered, MSNBC/NBC News, and locally at KIRO, the CBS network affiliate in Seattle. After MSNBC and National Public Radio, Wiehl moved to the Fox News Channel where she served as a legal analyst and reporter for over fifteen years. During her time at the Fox News Channel, she appeared on numerous shows including The O'Reilly Factor, Your World with Neil Cavuto, The Kelly File with Megyn Kelly, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and the Imus morning show. Wiehl also hosted the Legal Lis radio show and the Wiehl of Justice podcast.

In 2005, Wiehl released her first book, Winning Every Time: How to Use the Skills of a Lawyer in the Trials of Your Life. Two years later she released The 51% Minority: How Women Still Are Not Equal and What You Can Do About It which was awarded the 2008 award for Books for a Better Life in the motivational category. Since then, Wiehl has continued to write bestselling books of fiction and non-fiction.

Lis Wiehl continues to appear in the media as a legal expert and commentator for organizations including CNN, CBS, NBC, and NPR among others. She regularly lectures at colleges and universities, appears as a keynote speaker, and speaks at bookstores, conferences, and literary festivals.
Wiehl earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, her Master of Arts in Literature from the University of Queensland, and a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Lis Wiehl currently lives near New York City.

For more information please visit www.liswiehlbooks.com.

Reviews

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for those with an interest in the elusive unabomber who held law enforcement at bay for so many years.

I remember so much about the fear Theodore Kaczynsky caused, as he committed acts of terror by bombing random locations, injuring and killing innocent bystanders.

Well written and easy to read with lots of resources and information in chronological order. Fascinating case.

[Gem ~ZeroShelfControl~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher, in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall Rating: 4*
Writing : 5*
Information : 5*
Uniqueness : 3*
Science: 3*
Pace: 4*

I went into this one knowing nothing about the subject or how it ended up. I was very surprised at how easy this was to read. The author wrote in a detailed, yet manageable way. Also it was pacey and in a chronological order that had me eating it up! I cant wait to watch a documentary on this now and see if I can learn even more!

[Maine Colonial · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those of us who were adults in the late 20th century remember the Unabomber case. For years, starting at the end of the 1970s, improvised explosive devices targeted university professors, airlines and tech shops. Once commonalities established that these were the work of one attacker, the case became known as UNABOM, which stood for UNiversity and Airline BOMber. Of course, the perpetrator was called the Unabomber.

The case took many years, countless agent hours and vast sums of money to crack. Over time, the Unabomber finally gave the investigators, principally from the FBI, enough evidence to reveal his identity as Ted Kaczynski, a genius who had begun college at 16, progressed to a mathematics Ph.D., taught at Berkeley for a period, but then dropped out and lived in a 10x12 handmade cabin near Lincoln, Montana. Kaczynski was finally arrested in 1996, pled guilty to multiple charges, including murders, received eight life sentences, and is held at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

Lis Wiehl introduces us to the people on the UNABOM task force and painstakingly details their investigation. If you remember from the time, the big break in the case came when the Unabomber’s manifesto was published in the Washington Post. Normally the FBI wouldn’t agree to give a terrorist’s manifesto out for publication, but in this case there were two reasons for the go-ahead: he had promised to stop killing people if it was published, and it was thought that the more people saw the content of the work the more likely it would be that someone would recognize the writing and be able to identify the writer. And sure enough, it turned out that Ted Kaczynski’s brother recognized his older brother’s voice in the text and contacted the FBI.

Wiehl writes that she learned during her research that the recent Discovery channel series about the investigation was misleading, conflating several investigators and giving too much credit to one particular investigator. Maybe the screenwriters thought viewers would be too confused by a lot of characters. While there are a lot of them in the book, Wiehl’s writing is lucid and she makes it easy to follow the story.

One thing that particularly intrigued me was that quite a few members of the investigative team pooh-poohed the agents who believed that a copy of Kaczynski’s work, compared to the Unabomber manifesto, showed that the authors were one and the same. At the time, linguistic forensics was not as widely accepted as it is today. It was novel for the federal judge to grant a search warrant based on linguistic forensics, in the absence (at the time) of physical evidence connecting Kaczynski to the bombs.

Because Wiehl’s focus is the investigation, she doesn’t look deeply into Kaczynski’s manifesto, titled Industrial Society and Its Future, with its theme that “[t]he Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.” He particularly damns technology for damaging the environment and the human psyche, substituting artificial life for natural life. Many of his points particularly resonate today, and in prison he has the social life he never had before, corresponding with dozens of people regularly. Why a brilliant man thought that terrorism would help achieve his goals is a mystery—but then that’s true of all terrorism.

This is a well-written book that is a good choice for people who enjoy reading about the true crime investigative process.

I received a free publisher’s review copy via Netgalley.

[Randal White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Found it very hard to put down. I have always been fascinated by the Unabomber, and have read a lot of information about him. But here the author has consolidated all the stories into a cohesive, chronological telling of the decades long story. And she had unique access to the men and women who conducted the hunt. Really compelling reading. She is an excellent writer!

[Jill Crosby · Rating 2 out of 5]

A superficial look into the pursuit & capture of America’s longest at-large criminal—the Unabomber. Several interesting tidbits saved this one, especially some of the info on the process how the bomber’s manifesto led to his ultimates identification and capture.
Much of the “middle sections” of the book become repetitive with the comings and goings of government agents assigned/unassigned/reassigned to the case; names fly around like the reader should know who is being referenced and why. For a more effective approach, a better editor might have suggested following the involvement of one or two agents only, instead of trying to braid in the new players at every chapter.
That’s when I realized the author is a “journalist” for one
Of the glitzy mainstream news networks, and that the reader really can’t expect anything TOO in-depth from this kind of source.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is in itself compelling but is also fascinating for illustrating the development of bureau techniques for investigation. The difficulty of this case provided an opportunity to try old and new strategies. The book candidly discusses the pros and cons of the bureau’s operations and what worked and what didn’t.

The Cain and Abel theme isn’t emphasized although Ted K. was prima facia done in by his brother. Madmen of his ilk may start with some self-defined righteous mission on behalf of the greater good, but ultimately his ego and need for acknowledgment and recognition, manifested by the manifesto, brought the fall.

[Erin Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this as an audiobook. The narrator's voice and her style of reading it was a bit too annoying for me throughout the book, but by the time I realized what it was I didn't like about the experience it was too late to change. The narrator read it like we were laughing and joking away at things, and it just didn't feel professional or appropriate. Aside from that, the content was very interesting to me because it was something I knew nothing really about.

[Cameron McKeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Unabomber toys with the FBI for years until his brother bails them out. Ok time to read something fun

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put this book down. I have vague memories of hearing about the Unabomber on the news and recall being scared of his suspect sketch, but for some reason my memories are far more clear of Waco and Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma City bombing and I’m not sure why.

You can find my full review over on my blog: https://allthebookblognamesaretaken.b...

[Helen Geng · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read August 2020

Data dump, perhaps?
Not very well-written.
The best thing about this book is the authors’ summary about the Unabomber’s motivation—that he was seeking purpose through his actions.

Will try to swap on bookmooch.com.

[Sara Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

** “The Unabomber’s sole intent was to cause injury and death. That was part of what made him so difficult to profile and ultimately identity.” **

Third-generation federal prosecutor and daughter of an FBI agent Lis Wiehl, along with Lisa Pulitzer, dives deep into America’s longest running FBI investigation in “Hunting the Unabomber.”

Wiehl takes an extremely thorough approach to reveal the case of the Unabomber — Ted Kaczynski — and his nearly two decade reign of terror, committing 16 bomb attacks that killed three and injured 23 people.

Relying heavily on details from FBI Agent Patrick Webb, she explains how the FBI took some seemingly random and unrelated bombings against universities, airlines and a computer store, and learned to work with other agencies — the ATF and U.S. Postal Service — to find the man who would be come known as the Unabomber.

The book discusses Kaczynski’s ability to leave no trace evidence in his bombs, severely frustrating the agents, while also revealing his past, from childhood into adulthood, attempting to humanize him a bit and delve into his psyche to learn why he committed these atrocious crimes.

Those who enjoy true crime will love this book, seeing revelations into how law enforcement works to solve crimes using good old brain power, but also how the change in technology over time helped. It also allows the reader to think about intent behind committing crimes.

Wiehl and Pulitzer do an incredible job of creating an accurate, non-fictionalized telling of the Unabomber case. There are a lot of facts, timelines and people involved, but overall they do a good job of repeatedly reminding the reader of who people are and when and how events unraveled.

Five stars out of five.

Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Yakira Goldsberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not many non-fiction books can hold my attention for too long. Not unless it’s Medieval or Norse history, a book on horses, a book on real detectives, or just plain weird. Or, unless it’s about crime.

I’ve only dived into a couple other books about criminals, the one about a woman who did studied on serial killers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacey to understand just how they worked, and the other was about the two men who started the Behavioral Analysis Unit in the FBI. So naturally, I was interested when I saw Hunting the Unabomber on NetGalley. I just had to read it.

The beginning of the book starts out like a story; illustrating what life was like in December of 1992 in California. Then we ease into the life of FBI Supervisory Special Agent Patrick Webb, and we follow his thread of the story (mostly) throughout the book as he laid out details about the monstrous case involving the Unabomber to the author.

The voice of the narrative continued to be engaging, and just sucked me right in. I listened to every detail with rapt attention, even when things got messy for the people mentioned. I already knew quite a bit about the Unabomber, due to the fact that my mom took criminal psychology in college and wrote a paper on Ted Kaczynski. So it was giving me a more in-depth picture of the man who I grew up believing to be this monstrous nightmare.

I found it to be a very enlightening and somewhat puzzling story. No one knows quite what made Ted snap in the end. He just…did, making a conscious decision to start killing. Wiehl portrays all of this without any sort of bias, leaving the reader to make their own conclusions. I’d have to say that this is one that I really liked. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading true crime, criminal history, or is just curious about one of America’s most notorious domestic terrorists.

NOTE: I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley for review purposes only. All thoughts and opinions are my own

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The caption "Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday June 10, 2023 in the Sunday paper I was reading made me flinch. I remember the Unabomber but never knew all of the details.

Wiehl writes of Kaczynski's childhood - mostly his adolescence when his genius intellect set him apart from other kids his age. She discusses the question about the impact of his skipping grades in school and starting at Harvard at age 16. What happens to a person that becomes isolated from normal social groups? What lasting impact did the interrogation experiment that he was a part of at Harvard have on him? Why would someone hide in a primitive cabin on the edge of survival and plot ways to kill people? The chapters about Ted, his life, and his bombings are supremely interesting and very detailed, his childhood, the relationship he had with his brother, the torture in college, all were amazing. What I didn't like was there was to many chapters spent detailing FBI agents especially head Agent Patrick Webb and his promotions, family life instead of focusing on Ted and the case. These parts feel unnecessary and were a bit annoying. It can be a slow read at times, but it is full of detailed information that will be fascinating to those interested in the case. Those who enjoy true crime will love this book, seeing revelations into how law enforcement works to solve crimes using good old brain power, but also how the change in technology over time helped.

[Sam Spade · Rating 5 out of 5]

JUST. A. FANTASTIC. BOOK!

What a great read.

The FBI's pursuit of Ted Kaczynski was highly entertaining. The author takes you behind the scenes of the largest manhunt in FBI history. She is not shy in pointing out the failure of law enforcement in the early years of the pursuit.

I am an avid reader of true life crime and it seems to be a repetitive issue with law enforcement when multiple agencies are involved. No one wants to share information and everyone wants to be the big dog during the investigation. It happens with serial type crimes it seems. In this instance it was the FBI,ATF, United States Postal Inspection Division. It's part of the reason it took damn near 2 decades to catch this guy.

On the flip side, Ted Kaczynski was brilliant and just didn't make mistakes. Did you know he had higher IQ than Stephen Hawking? One of the interesting facts you will read in the book.

However like all criminals of this type ego gets the best of them and Kaczynski had to tell everyone why? In this reviewers personal opinion this was his downfall the publishing of his Manifesto.

His identity was brought into the open and his brother and sister in law noticed the vocabulary used in his Manifesto. If he never sends out his Mainfesto and demands for it to be published I do believe he would have never gotten caught because the FBI was roughly 17 years into the hunt still had no clue who he was.

I thoroughly encourage anyone who enjoys true crime to pick up this book. You will not be disappointed.
P.S. Despite the movie that came out that shows Kaczynski speaking to law enforcement in fact, he never did. The only thing he ever said to law enforcement was "I am not mentally ill." Well Ted....

[Bill reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ted Kaczynski is great subject matter and a fascinating human being. Unfortunately, Lis Wiehl's book focuses on the FBI's fourteen year investigation in excruciating detail. The endless meetings with Louis Freeh, Janet Reno(Branch Davidian debacle), and other experts in law enforcement take up most of this book. The material on Ted is taken from his brother David's book, which I will read next. Dave called the FBI after his wife read Ted's anarchist manifesto and pointed out the language used when compared with letters to him. Ted was born in Chicago to Polish Catholic immigrants and skipped two grades to graduate high school at sixteen. The math prodigy has an IQ of 168. He graduated from Harvard at twenty and taught math at the University of Michigan. He had no people skills and was terminated after receiving a D from his students. After working a few menial jobs he escaped to a ten by twelve foot cabin with no water or electricity in Montana. Mail bombs were sent to colleges and airports from 1978 to 1992. Three people died and many more were injured. The cost of the case is estimated at $50 million. If not for David, Ted might still be loose and hiding in his cabin in Montana. A prison in Colorado houses the lunatic after a quick guilty plea.

[Brad]

Lis Wiehl gives us all the details from the Unabomber case in her book Hunting the Unabomber.- a deep dive of the case and Kaczynski's background.

Wiehl writes of Kaczynski's childhood - mostly his adolescence when his genius intellect set him apart from other kids his age. She discusses the question about the impact of his skipping grades in school and starting at Harvard at age 16. What happens to a person that becomes isolated from normal social groups? What lasting impact did the interrogation experiment that he was a part of at Harvard have on him? Why would someone hide in a primitive cabin on the edge of survival and plot ways to kill people?

Wiehl touches on all of the bombings and talks about the lack of a focused, coordinated task force and the handful of agents from multiple agencies who were determined to find and prosecute the bomber.

Only negative is the tendency to spend too many words listing a participant's credentials.
Overall, an interesting book and good choice for true crime buffs.

[Thomas Radigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author explains how a (literal) evil genius started sending package bombs to various universities and airlines, starting in 1978 until his capture in 1996, and how the FBI and other various government agencies, who previously failed to cooperate and share their data, finally realized they needed to do so to catch this criminal who used unusual techniques such as wood packaging but who was very able to avoid planting DNA or other physical evidence. It took a careful analysis of his language in the manifesto he finally gave to the news media that anyone could track who he was.

There was no one hero; it took the efforts of a large number of people and a lot of false leads before they could finally identify and locate who did this. Unlike other terrorists, he never made public statements until his manifesto after seventeen years, nor asked for money. There was nothing to indicate he was like other terrorists with a political agenda. Which made him so difficult to catch. Recommended.

[Jane Comer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insight into the hunt for Ted Kaczynski as ATF, FBI and Postal Service investigator coordinated their efforts over twenty year period. Persistence, that coordination, and creative thinking resulted in the peaceful capture of the illusive bomber. After skipping two grades, Kazcynski entered high school at 12 and Harvard at 16. Whether due to his genius or his young age, his education there did not serve his social skills well. Add a bizzare psychological study her participated in, his difficulties only increased. He earned his masters and doctorate at the University of Michigan where his dissertation earned a coveted award. Ted said his years there were "unpleasant". He became the youngest professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He remained there only two years. This book is readable both for the insights into Kaczynski, an certified genius, and the processes of the FBI led investigation. It does not provide any information as to the reasons Kaczynski chose the victims he did.

[AcademicEditor · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read or seen other works on this case, then this will be a great window into the full background of the case, not just what was dramatized or sensationalized to make a better story. Wiehl has a procedural, factual way of describing the crimes in horrific detail, as well as the years of investigative work by many, many people. It's such a long and complex case that this is perhaps not the best introduction into it if you haven't heard much about it before. I found myself having to look up details to remember who was who. But it's a great treatment for the true crime fans out there. Indeed, I wish Ms. Wiehl would take on the Teresa Halbach murder case and show what a stinking heap of nonsense Netflix distributed with its Making a Murderer series.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really informative, detailed, comprehensive story of the FBI’s UNABOM task force’s work chasing and eventually capturing Kaczynski. An honest assessment of the organizational struggles early on, coupled with the fact there was just mountains of data to chase and try compiling into something that would lead somewhere.

Eventually, Louis Freeh, the FBI Director at the time made some key decisions along with Janet Reno to allow the task force to make some critical moves. Undoubtedly the most significant was allowing the Washington Post to publish Kaczynski’s manifesto. This allowed his brother and brother’s wife to recognize the similarities in Kaczynski’s early writings and the manifesto. Ultimately this was the final piece needed to lock him into the SuperMax in Colorado for the rest of his life.

Where presumably he’ll shower more often than he did there at his cabin in the woods.

[Emilio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A generally good read that is hampered by some glaring issues.

I'd generally recommend this book for those interested in learning about the FBI's manhunt for Ted Kaczynsky, it has a huge amount of data on the project both at the institutional level and the personal level of those involved. This is both its greatest strength and the point its greatest flaws derive from.

Now, since the book is titled "Hunting the Unabomber: The FBI, Ted Kaczynski, and the Capture of America’s Most Notorious Domestic Terrorist", it's to be expected that it be prosecutorially minded, specially considering the author's bias towards that side of the equation. She readily acknowledges her personal and ideological closeness to law enforcement, and as such you can find an almost granular portrait of many taskforce members. It can, however, become repetitive and some of those excursi don't feel justified. Additionally, there is a tendency to reintroduce some players as if we'd never met them, while they've been present throughout.

A flipside to this amount of detail is that many things TK are presented in very broad strokes. For example, the author contrasts the young Kaczsynski's horror at seeing a rabbit hunted for sport with his later attempts to kill several people in the service of his ideology and seems perplexed. That a young boy is outraged at the killing of animals would later turn to violence to destroy what he identifies with the cause of the former seems to be an irresolvable contradiction, instead of a logical development.

What results is that the book is structured as a narrative of brave and stubborn federal officers battling their own organization´s pencil pushers and politicians, all while in the search of an inscrutable and unknowable terrorist. It is certainly one way to construct a narrative and it is often the preferred one for those who like to believe themselves the watchmen of civilization against the barbarism of the outsiders. Lost in the shuffle, though, is the wealth of sociological complexity that can permit these very situations to occur.

That said, hey, it's in the title that this is going to be about the FBI, from the FBI's point of view. So it's to be expected. And as mentioned, the book has an enormous amount of detail and care in constructing their narrative. It is, then, a rather good, if deeply biased, account of the Unabomber manhunt.

[June Kuehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a factual and chronological account of the Unabomber from the first bombings to his ultimate capture. The author takes issue with a prior documentary that gave credit to one individual in identifying the Unabomber that led to his capture. This account relates a massive effort led by various team members from multiple agencies. Although it was mired down with a lot of detailed information before the culmination, overall it was a well written suspenseful and interesting read. She was able to articulate the anguish of the brother who initially is in denial but can’t deny the similarities in the writings of his brother that provides the impetus to his ultimate capture. I would recommend this book.

[Aleysha van Dijk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not sure if it was the writing or the audiobook narration, but the whole experience felt like I was listening to a 6th-grade essay. The narrative was repetitive, especially when it came to listing who worked on the case and who got transferred where. It felt like the author was trying to meet a word count, rather than telling a compelling story. While I understand the importance of crediting people involved, the constant name-dropping quickly became overwhelming and confusing, detracting from the overall experience.

I didn’t come away with any real insights, except that the author’s brother wrote a book I’m now more interested in reading. Overall, I found the book tedious and not at all engaging.

[Jennifer Nowak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what made me request this ARC, as while I knew of the Unibomber & the extended search to find out his identity, it really wasn't of great interest to me. I contemplated not reading it, but decided to give it a try and then decide whether to continue or not. I read the first couple pages, and I was hooked! The writing style is engaging and it is told in layman's terms and does not assume you know anything about what went on.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. It is very informative & insiteful and can be enjoyed by people with great Unabomber knowledge and also by novices, like myself!

[Jon Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this book is focused on the FBI's investigation of the Unabomber case, which involved hundreds of persons and spanned almost 2 decades. This is the first book I have read about the Unabomber. Given its focus on the law enforcement efforts, it does not delve deeply into Kaczynski's biography or motivations. I will have to get that from other books. I did learn a lot from this book about the organization and heirarchical nature of the FBI. And since the investigation was pursued mainly during the 1980's and early 1990's, the book is a trip down memory lane back to a time before widespread use of the internet, personal computers, and smart phones, when the tools of the trade were fax machines, mainframe computers, snail mail, beepers and desk phones.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unabomber then you will read this one. The author's motivation is to write a book from the police point of view to put the story straight after the popular semi fictional recent Netflix account of the story.

I was hoping to hear about some juicy inside informantion but I don't think there was anything new that I haven't read in other accounts.

Also Ted Kazinsky's participation in government psychological studies while at University wasn't mentioned.

The author enthusiastically read the audiobook but it wasn't enough to make it special.

A good account but, given the police couldn't solve the case, the story wasn't so compelling. It was for this reason Netflix jazzed it up.

[Sarah Busch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I enjoy true crime novels, and I thought it would be interesting to read this one, written by a former FBI agent. But the prose was so dry, and there were a lot of details that the author seemed to think you should already be familiar with. I knew very little about the case, and about the Unabomber. I still feel uninformed on the case because the different bombings were not presented in a linear manner. I may try another novel about the Unabomber, or I may take a break from nonfiction.

[Kathryn E Hagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best book I've ever read about the unabomber. The detail was superb and I read it in one or two sittings. I saw the TV movie and wondered how true it was. The complexity of the case was beyond what the movie showed, and the book brought this out very well. The amazing thing I found out was how many resources the various agencies put into the search. This was elucidated well, too. Highly recommended to all readers.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a bit afraid this book would get bogged down with the play by play of the excruciatingly long search for the Unabomber but the authors did a good job breaking it up with other content. Definitely learned a lot and wish I had any recollection of this since I was a freshman in high school when he was arrested.