The Siege
A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World
Ratings2
Average rating4
15
A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World
Ratings2
Average rating4
A thrilling tick-tock recounting one of the most harrowing hostage situations and daring rescue attempts of our time—from the true-life espionage master and New York Times bestselling author of Operation Mincemeat and The Spy and the Traitor.
“[Ben Macintyre is] John le Carré’s nonfiction counterpart.”—The New York Times
As the American hostage crisis in Iran boiled into its seventh month in the spring of 1980, six heavily armed gunman barged into the Iranian embassy in London, taking twenty-six hostages. What followed over the next six days was an increasingly tense standoff, one that threatened at any moment to spill into a bloodbath.
Policeman Trevor Lock was supposed to have gone to the theater that night. Instead, he found himself overpowered and whisked into the embassy. The terrorists never noticed the gun hidden in his jacket. The drama that ensued would force him to find reserves of courage he didn’t know he had. The gunmen themselves were hardly one-dimensional—all Arabs, some highly educated, who hoped to force Britain to take their side in their independence battle against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Behind the scenes lurked the brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who had bankrolled the whole affair as a salvo against Iran.
As police negotiators pressed the gunmen, rival protestors clashed violently outside the embassy, and as MI6 and the CIA scrambled for intelligence, Britain’s special forces strike team, the SAS, laid plans for a dangerous rescue mission. Inside, Lock and his fellow hostages used all the cunning they possessed to outwit and outflank their captors. Finally, on the sixth day, after the terrorists executed the embassy press attaché and dumped his body on the front doorstep, the SAS raid began, sparking a deadly high-stakes climax.
A story of ordinary men and women under immense pressure, The Siege takes readers minute-by-thrilling-minute through an event that would echo across the next two decades and provide a direct historical link to the tragedy on 9/11. Drawing on exclusive interviews and a wealth of never-before-seen files, Macintyre brilliantly reconstructs a week in which every day minted a new hero and every second spelled the potential for doom.
Reviews with the most likes.
“The Siege” by Ben Macintyre is a riveting account of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London. As the most comprehensive study of this real-life drama to date, Macintyre unravels the complexity of an event that catapulted the SAS into global renown and bolstered Margaret Thatcher's image as a national heroine.
Macintyre's trademark blend of meticulous research and engaging storytelling brings this tense six-day standoff to life with vivid detail and suspense. He expertly weaves together multiple perspectives, from the hostages and terrorists to the police negotiators and SAS soldiers, providing a nuanced understanding of the event and its key players.
The author skillfully balances the human drama with broader historical context, exploring the roots of the crisis in Iranian politics and British-Iranian relations. Macintyre reveals lesser-known aspects of the siege, such as the gunmen's authentic cause of bringing attention to the persecuted Arab population in Khuzestan, Iran, while also exposing their manipulation by the Iraqi secret service and terrorist Abu Nidal.
The book excels in conveying the building tensions inside the embassy, depicting unlikely bonding between hostages and captors, volatile mood swings, and the paranoia that ultimately led to the SAS intervention. Macintyre's narrative also touches on intriguing social history elements, like ITV's refusal to interrupt Coronation Street for live siege coverage.
While the moment-by-moment account of the siege is gripping, some readers may find certain background sections slightly prolonged. Additionally, despite Macintyre's efforts to piece together the most accurate picture possible of the SAS assault, some questions about the operation's conduct remain unanswered.
Overall, “The Siege” is a thrilling and informative read that sheds new light on a pivotal moment in British counterterrorism. Macintyre once again proves his talent for turning complex historical events into page-turning narratives, offering a thought-provoking exploration of an event that captivated a nation and changed the course of special forces history.
