The Spymaster of Baghdad

A heartbreaking and courageous story of the secretive Iraqi Falcons intelligence unit . . . well worth reading and sharing with the entire world. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Abu Ali Al-Basri and the Iraqi Falcons Unit for their important role in the fight against the most lethal terrorist group of our time

Anne Speckhard, Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE)

A thrilling and skillfully reported tale of the invisible heroes of the Iraqi fight against terrorism, that, at its heart, is a poignant story of family and sacrifice

Tamer Elnoury, covert operative and New York Times bestselling author of American Radical

Who needs spy fiction, when fact can provide as thrilling a story as this? In Margaret Coker's deeply reported, unputdownable account, the previously unknown Iraqi heros of the war against the Islamic State turn out to be braver than Bond and as subtle as Smiley. Until this book, we had no idea how much we owe the spymaster of Baghdad and his operatives

Lindsey Hilsum, author of In Extremis

The Spymaster of Baghdad is the amazing true story of the secret war against ISIS in Iraq, which Margaret Coker tells with great verve and authority

Peter Bergen, New York Times bestselling author of Manhunt

A fascinating, character-driven chronicle of the battle against al-Qaeda and ISIS in Iraq . . . Coker ties the threads of the narrative together in a gripping and well-crafted conclusion worthy of a spy novel . . . A dramatic and edifying must-read for espionage fans and anyone interested in Middle Eastern affairs

Publishers Weekly, starred review

Margaret Coker has brought to readers a gripping spy drama that doubles as a page-turning story of family and survival. A moving window into patriots who faced down terror and fought for their country

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, New York Times bestselling author of Ashley's War and The Daughters of Kobani

Margaret Coker's The Spymaster of Baghdad is a stunning and meticulous account of exceptional bravery and espionage carried out by Iraqis in the most dangerous stages of the war against ISIS. These are the type of stories we so rarely get to hear, and we are lucky to have journalists like Coker to tell them

Phil Klay, award-winning author of Redeployment and Missionaries

This gripping, eye-opening true story of a spymaster, a bomb-maker and two brothers named Harith and Munaf (one went undercover in ISIS, the other was his handler back in Baghdad) reveals the extraordinarily courageous work of Iraq's Falcons intelligence cell in infiltrating ISIS. Coker, investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, tells a story of old-fashioned spycraft, and of home-grown heroes willing to die in the cause of saving their country from a new tyranny

Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller