Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer (Hardcover)

~ (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, United States, Fort Detrick (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Who was the anthrax killer?
Six days after the 9/11 attacks, a new terror began to spread...

September 17, 2001: A Florida tabloid receives a love letter addressed to Jennifer Lopez. The paper's photo editor opens it--and, unknowingly, inhales thousands of toxic spores. By 10/5 he's dead.

October 12, 2001: NBC anchor Tom Brokaw's assistant tests positive for cutaneous anthrax, a result of exposure to a powder in an envelope she inhaled three weeks before.

In the days that followed, 28 more people tested positive for anthrax, plunging an entire country into the frontlines of an insidious bioterror.

The anthrax war had begun.

This is the most comprehensive work to date about the plague of terror that arose in the wake of 9/11--and the relentless scientific manhunt to answer the question of who the anthrax killer was.

About the Author

Robert Graysmith is the national bestselling author of Zodiac, Zodiac Unmasked, The Murder of Bob Crane, and The Sleeping Lady.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425191907
• ISBN-13: 978-0425191903
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,005,249 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)

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

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 (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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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)

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

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.