Catch and Kill

Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

By: Ronan Farrow

Narrated by: Ronan Farrow

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Now an HBO documentary series streaming on HBO Max. 

One of the Best Books of the Year Time * NPR * Washington Post * Bloomberg News * Chicago Tribune * Chicago Public Library * Fortune * Los Angeles Times * E! News * The Telegraph * Apple * Library Journal  

In this newly updated edition of the "meticulous and devastating" (Associated Press) account of violence and espionage that spent months on the New York Times Bestsellers list, Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost—from Hollywood to Washington and beyond.

In 2017, a routine network television investigation led to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most power­ful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move, and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family. This is the untold story of the exotic tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability, and silence victims of abuse. And it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography

Indie Bound #1 Bestseller

USA Today Bestseller

Wall Street Journal Bestseller

©2019 Ronan Farrow (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

One of Elle's Best Audiobooks

Time Must-Read Book of 2019

NPR Favorite Book of 2019

Washington Post Best Nonfiction Book of 2019

Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2019

Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2019

Fortune Best Business Book of 2019

Bloomberg Best Book of the Year

Telegraph (U.K) Best Book of 2019

Kirkus Best Nonfiction Books of 2019

A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2019

Library Journal Best Social Science Book of 2019

One of USA Today's Best Books to Read While Stuck at Home

"Meticulous and devastating...part All the President's Men, part spy thriller."—Rasha Madkour, Associated Press

"At the heart of every great noir is a conspiracy of evil that imbues the initial crime uncovered by the hero with a weightier resonance than was immediately obvious. So it goes with Catch and Kill."—Elizabeth Bruenig, The Washington Post

"The connections between presidents, media moguls, and spies described in Catch and Kill are stranger than fiction. As a novel, it would be a page-turner. As a reported piece of nonfiction, it's terrifying."—Eliana Dockterman, Time

Excellent book

Started listening at midnight when the book was released. I disagree with the criticisms of Farrow's narration. I think he did an excellent job. My only criticism would be I found the background music that sometimes comes in at the end of chapters or other points to be very distracting and took me out of the story whenever it began to play.
Overall I would highly recommend this as a listen. I am now going to buy the book to read through next.

Amazing

The content of the book is extremely gripping. I listened to it in a single day.

Apparently there's some divide on whether the narration, and Ronan's use of different accents and voices, is good or not. For me, I didn't mind the accents and they didn't distract from my listening experience. It helped differentiate between people, make clear who was speaking in back-and-forths, and act as a reminder of who a certain person was if they hadn't been present for a while.

Powerful and Important

Wow. Could not stop listening. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the brave women who told their stories against the greatest of obstacles, and to Ronan Farrow for not giving up on them in the face of the powerful threats to stop him.

My heart ached for so much of this telling of the pain endured by these woman. But I also felt so much anger at what they had to silently endure for so long. But in the end I felt gratitude that there are brave reporters out there willing to never stop looking for the truth.

Everyone should read/listen to this book.

Had To Return

I highly respect Ronan Farrow and the work he has done and think this book is UNBELIEVABLY important.

However I had to return it due to the narration. Ronan did fine speaking in his normal voice but when he quote McGowan instead of sounding angry and outraged at her assaulter the voice Farrow uses makes her sound more like an evil villain in a fairytale book.

I wish he had just read the quotes and statements in his normal voice. The words of the victims, as well as his own, give the subject the seriousness it deserves. The theatrics aren’t necessary.

I will be reading this rather than listening.

Narration full of bad imitations, like he's on SNL

Outstanding content, but Ronan Farrow imitating his sources (and their accents) is incredibly distracting & annoying.

Ronan Farrow: A Modern Day Super Hero

This is an amazing account of painstaking persistence, courage and bravery in the face of pure power and corruption. The courage of the women in this story cannot be overstated. These women have lived the worst fears shared by so many silent women. They faced those fears and the consequences of speaking out. Through the eloquent voice of Ronan and others, one villain was thwarted in mid stride, while others began to topple like dominoes.

Ronan is a true modern day super hero. He shares the experiences of the victims with a commitment and integrity that is frequently absent from our society today. All too often we are forced to witness the pure victory of bullies, rapists, and all manner of abusive characters that are elected, appointed, confirmed, and buy their way to success on the backs of the lives they harm and destroy.

This book breaks through the darkness and sheds a shining light on the way evil can be defeated with good. He also does this in a way that exposes his own humanity in the process. He is describing one of the biggest takedowns of our era while at the same time opening himself for the world to see that he is just a guy; a guy who takes on the most powerful forces in our society and at the same time, he also whines and blubbers in the backseat of a taxi. I love this super hero and I am so grateful for the light. Thank you Ronan and thank you to all of the brave women.

I LIKED FARROW’S NARRATION!!

This is an astounding story involving many people.
Farrow’s narration and accents helped distinguish the various people involved.

Read the Book rather than listen to Audio

This is a well written investigative journalism story on one of the most grimly fascinating stories in recent memory. Ronan Farrow does a great job of laying out the characters, subplots, and motivations very clearly and is able to let the reader connect the dots efficiently to tell his story.

His choice to narrate this book is great as well since he can read it in his own voice with his own intent. Unfortunately, this turns to folly fast when he reads aloud dialogue from other people in his story.

Ronan Farrow admits early on that he enjoyed writing dramas early in his career, but unfortunately he overdramatizes every single person’s voice. His choice to add terrible accents, cliche airiness, and frankly insulting tones to some of the dialogue really damages some of the excellent material he has written here. It almost feels like he is parodying the people he interviewed. For instance, one Italian actress he interviewed is voiced as a complete caricature of an Italian, and her dialogue is interpreted in a confusing way since the subject matter is so serious. An audio recording included within of actual events from the investigation prove that she sounds nothing like his attempt at imitating her accent.

I wish I read the book rather than listened to Audio. A captivating piece of journalism is undermined by a fairly cheap and insulting dramatization of his sources’ voices by the author himself.

Riveting

I’m not the biggest fan of these types of books but I’m a huge Ronan Farrow fan (and a friend of The Pod) so I had to read this one. I found the writing remarkably engaging, poignant and occasionally funny. A must read to really understand how our world works these days.

Favorite bit was Jonathan telling Ronan to tip the taxi driver really well since he had just had an emotional breakdown in the back seat.

Incredible Story! Not so incredible narration!

I've really been looking forward to this book and wanted to dive right in (instead of adding to my stack of books I haven't been able to get to), so I got the audio version. The story is amazing, compelling, and shocking! I've been listening to it all day. I have complete respect for Ronan as a journalist and writer, but I wish he had just read the book instead of adding "characters". The inflections, accents, etc., aren't necessary when you have work this engrossing!