The Siege by Ben Macintyre - Hardcover
The Siege by Ben Macintyre – Hardcover
Step into the heart-pounding reality of one of history's most electrifying hostage crises, meticulously unravelled by master storyteller Ben Macintyre, the acclaimed author of Operation Mincemeat and The Spy and the Traitor. The Siege isn’t just a book—it’s a front-row seat to six days that changed the world.
In the spring of 1980, the unthinkable unfolded at the Iranian Embassy in London. Twenty-six hostages. Six armed gunmen. A city on edge. As the world watched in suspense, a quiet theatre outing for policeman Trevor Lock transformed into a battle for survival. Overpowered and imprisoned inside the embassy, Lock carried a hidden secret—a gun in his jacket—and a steely resolve that would redefine courage.
With tensions mounting, the fate of the hostages hung by a thread. Outside, Britain’s elite SAS forces meticulously prepared for a daring rescue, while political intrigue simmered beneath the surface, involving the infamous Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini. Inside the embassy, an extraordinary game of wits unfolded as captives and captors alike revealed their humanity and their limits.
Drawing from exclusive interviews and previously unseen files, Macintyre reconstructs every nail-biting moment with cinematic clarity. From the charged confrontations on Princes Gate to the explosive SAS raid that gripped a global audience, The Siege captures the bravery, fear, and resilience of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances.
This is more than a recount of a historical event—it's a pulse-quickening narrative of heroism and peril that echoes into the modern age. The Siege is an unmissable chronicle for fans of real-life espionage, dramatic rescues, and gripping true stories that define history.
Author Profile
Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (UK) and the bestselling author of Agent Sonya, The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, Rogue Heroes, and Prisoners of the Castle, among other books. Macintyre has also written and presented BBC documentaries of his work.
Critic Reviews
Praise for The Siege
“For six days, it was the Iranian Embassy on Princes Gate in London that riveted the world . . . Macintyre’s new book is a gripping retelling of what happened. [His] superb reconstruction restores it to vivid, complex life . . . A cracking procedural. It’s another hit.”—The Washington Post
“Macintyre . . . is a master storyteller. . . . He is expert at gathering and collating, then shaping and deploying, vast quantities of information, whether from government records, private archives or interviews he conducts himself. . . . There are numerous accounts already published of this six-day siege[,] and yet, for all the wealth of information already out there, Mr. Macintyre adds real value to our understanding of what occurred in those six days with his deeply humane and encyclopedic book.”—Wall Street Journal
“Nerve-wracking menace, unlikely sympathies, and a daring rescue mark this rousing saga of a notorious terrorist incident . . . Macintyre’s narrative is cinematic in its bloody climax . . . and even more so in its tense buildup. He paints the embassy occupation as a psychological pressure cooke. . . . Without demonizing those involved, Macintyre provides a nuanced, perceptive analysis of the intense emotions roiling a high-stakes standoff.”—Publishers Weekly
“Ben Macintyre has established himself as the preeminent historian of the secret world, his work opening doors most of us didn’t know were there. His books have set the gold standard for accurate historical reporting, but read like heart-pounding thrillers.”—Mick Herron, bestselling author of Slow Horses
Praise for Ben Macintyre
“John le Carré’s nonfiction counterpart.”—The New York Times
“Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann
“One of the most gifted espionage writers around.”—Annie Jacobsen
“Macintyre is a supremely gifted storyteller. . . . His books are absurdly entertaining.”—The Boston Globe
“[Ben] Macintyre at once exalts and subverts the myths of spy craft.”—The New Yorker
“Macintyre is fastidious about tradecraft details. . . . [He] has become the preeminent popular chronicler of British intelligence history because he understands the essence of the business.”—David Ignatius, The Washington Post
“Macintyre writes with novelistic flair.”—Entertainment WeeklyProduct Details
ISBN: 9780593728093
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: September 10, 2024
Pages: 400
Country of Origin:
Age Group:
Dimensions (CM): L21.59W16H3.56
Weight (KG): 0.68