Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE squeak of a wayward wheel marked the path of an elderly man..." (more)
Key Phrases: anthrax killer, transmittal envelope, anthrax mailer, New York, New Jersey, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

National bestselling true-crime author Robert Graysmith lends his investigative insight to the definitive case study of America's invisible terrorist.

Based in part on information from the FBI's Amerithrax task force, as well as the author's independent research, and with official photos and transcripts of the anthrax letters, this is the most comprehensive work to date about the plague of terror that arose in the wake of 9/11/01--and the relentless scientific manhunt to stop it.

About the Author

Robert Graysmith is the national bestselling author of Zodiac, Zodiac Unmasked, The Murder of Bob Crane, and The Sleeping Lady. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Jove (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 051513838X
• ISBN-13: 978-0515138382
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,536,445 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but too long, July 31, 2008

By	Mark Wuschke "Noumea" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Not living in America, I knew relatively little about the Anthrax killer, so the story was new to me.

Its strengths are the detailed review of the facts of the case, and the telling of the general history of biological warfare since WW2. It also tells us about the unfortunate victims and their terrible suffering.

The trouble is, it tries to weave too many different things into a single narrative, which gets confusing. There is a lot of back tracking, and the story is interrupted constantly by anecdotes about Soviet, American, and Iraqi anthrax factories, previous anthrax leaks, the Una bomber, and various other mail-crimes, some of which are repetitive and not terribly relevant.

I did like the book tho, it sent a chill up my spine more than once. Consider the fact that several countries now stock enough anthrax bombs to kill every person on earth! Terrifying when you think about it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating read, March 18, 2008

By	Robert W. Smith "Robert Smith, Ph.D." (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer (Hardcover)

this was a fairly quick read. as we all know the plot, the writer offers many details unknown and some interesting analyses. i felt carried along for hundreds of pages, only to be dropped in the end without resolution - of course, our finest investigative services have publicly never reached a conclusion either. reading this book is a lot like listening to someone describe a web. there's no simple way to describe one with its concentric lines of slightly different thicknesses and angles. same with this book, the facts from different sites and the progress (or lack thereof) at each site make for a quite difficult story to tell. this was far from one of the best books that i've read in the past 12 months, but it is a topic in which i am puzzled. it is a worthwhile read, if you can tolerate the above limitations, new or used.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars National Preparedness BioDefense, October 8, 2007

By	Jonathan Morrone (Lexington Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I work in biological counter-terrorism and I found this book to be extremely helpful to better my understanding of the mail based attacks that took place in September and October of 2001.
Interestingly , I discovered that my company's product the Mail Defender was mentioned on page 411 of the hard copy.
One point the book makes is that is extremely difficult if not impossible to unmask the predator, while the United States mail system still remains the most open and largest distribution system in the world.
Please feel free to contact me anytime by email to discuss.