Countdown bin Laden

By: Chris Wallace, Mitch Weiss

Narrated by: Chris Wallace

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Following Chris Wallace’s “riveting” (The New York Times) and “propulsive” (Time) first book Countdown 1945 comes a deeply reported, revelatory, and thrillingly told account of the final months of the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

On August 27, 2010, three CIA officers ask for a private meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta. During that secret session, they tell Panetta that agents have tracked a courier with deep Al Qaeda ties to a three-story house at the end of a dead-end street in Abbottabad, Pakistan. But they say it’s more than a house—it’s a heavily protected fortress. No one in the meeting says the name bin Laden. They don’t have to. Everyone understands that finally, after nearly a decade, maybe, just maybe, they’ve found the world’s most wanted man.

In Countdown bin Laden, celebrated journalist and CNN anchor and Max host Chris Wallace delivers a vivid account of the final eight months of intelligence gathering, national security strategizing, and meticulous military planning that leads to the climactic mission when SEAL Team Six closes in on its target.

The book delivers new information collected from Wallace’s in-depth interviews with more than a dozen central figures, including Admiral William H. McRaven—leader of the operation in Pakistan—as well as CIA Director Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, and the SEAL Team Six special operator who kills Osama bin Laden. Wallace also brings to life the human elements of this story, talking to families who lost loved ones on 9/11, sharing what relatives of SEAL Team Six went through, and bringing us inside the tense Situation Room during the raid.

Countdown bin Laden is a historical thriller filled with intrigue, cinematic action, and fresh reporting about the race to apprehend and bring to justice the mastermind of the most consequential terrorist attack in American history.

©2021 Chris Wallace. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

very well done

it is good to get insight on how our leaders work. even if you are not a fan of the leaders you have to have respect for the decisions they make. It was weird to hear Chris Wallace talk about sex.

amazing

Great story that everyone should know. Any American should know and respect this story of the men and women who brought down this tyrant

Good Read

After watching the movie it’s nice to get more details into what went on behind the scene. Yet I do feel like there was point within the book that was dragged out longer than it needed. Overall good book and a must read if interested in military operations.

Speechless

I couldn't stop listening. incredible... wow. This is a story worth hearing and the ending just makes you want to research the next book about this event.

Compelling detail and insight

CW’s thorough research on the key contributors to the raid on bin Laden makes this a very compelling read.

Great to listen to “But”

So much has been written about this subject it hard not to think “ this is the 3rd time I have seen this movie”
Don’t get me wrong it’s a good book, but things like Rob O’Neal talking about the reason they all knew they were going to die was better told in O’Neils book. When he said that he remembered watching a young woman jump to her death and the last thing she did was to pull down her skirt so no one could see her underwear
That was why he was going for her
Please read or listen it is a good book it just seems that the same story but told different
Thank you Chris

Well written story of American Heroes

I really enjoyed this book on audible. I thought it was well written with a great story line, even knowing the outcome. It was easy to listen to Chris Wallace (except when he tried to curse like a Seal😆). My only complaint is that he brought his political views into it and I’d have rated it 5 stars had he not. I’d still recommend it to anyone interested in history or just a good story.

I thought I knew the whole story

Just outstanding. Chris drills into every facet of the operation as well as adding very personal touches. An extraordinary effort to tell the tale of an extraordinary event.

Excellent read

Even though I lived through the events of 9/11 and the years of hunting for Bin Laden I appreciate the insight that was given to the event.

Good book, but....

This is a good book, but it has some flaws. I think it is factual for the most part. Very interesting review of the events of the bin laden raid. I know a lot of research went into it.

I didn't appreciate all of Wallace's political spin, but I did expect it. The biggest complain is that one of the story lines has nothing to do with the hunt for bin laden. This part of the book was just filler that should have ended up the editor's floor, had nothing to do with the mission.