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 anchor of Fox News Sunday 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.

FLEE...

I have read a lot on the OBL raid. I wasn’t going to touch this one given the author but I gave in. IT WAS A BIG MISTAKE. This is classic “Wallace” - all the fawning and slobbering over the predictable characters and then the adverse - the demonization of the predictable others. THE only positive I’ll give is that unlike other writings on this event, he does weave in some very personal stories of the actual personnel involved in the raid itself BUT go with your instincts - if the author’s name conjures up negatives to you and “beware” flashing red lights - they will be fulfilled.

Liberal Agenda

Chris shoves his distaste for Trump and the entire right down your throat!!! This is supposed to be about the hint for bin laden, not Obama’s dinner jokes!!! Do not purchase!!!

Read The Operator

Wallace praises Obama throughout to the point of annoyance. He makes it very clear his disdain for Trump. Not enough information about the analysts and some story lines are pointless. Too much opinion in a book I chose for the interest in the search for bin Ladin. Read The Operator for more in depth on the military side and watch Zero Dark Thirty for the rest. Don’t waste your time.

Nothing New Here

If you have read any of the other first-hand accounts of the Bin Laden operation, you won't find anything new in this book. It plays like a summary of all of the other books out there. When Wallace relays first-person accounts from people like Robert O'Neil, it sounds as though he is just sitting down and reading excerpts from their books. Line for line.

If you know nothing about this raid, there might be some merit to starting here for a good overall picture. It does lay out the timeline in a very clear way. But ultimately it seems to lack detail because Wallance is trying to cram the contents of several other author's books into his own book.

I was expecting more of the book to feel as though it was based around access that Wallace had gained to significant people through his job with TV news stations. Disappointingly, it doesn't feel like that at all. It feels like a book anyone could have written if they just read the existing top three or four books on the subject.

Two positive points: Wallace does a good job reading it, and despite what some people are shouting in the reviews, he doesn't tow any particular party line. Some of the reviews that suggest otherwise are laughable.

Almost the untold story…

I thought it was a good book.
I enjoyed the reading by Chris Wallace.
I just felt like a lot of the story was already told, some word for word, in books like The Operator, and especially Sea Stories, by Admiral McCraven.
The perspectives I had not heard before I found intriguing however, so it was worth the download of the audible.

Better to borrow from library

Authors repeated rants about President Trump distract from story as does his anoting of President Obama for Sainthood. Good basic story, great concept but his story strays. Good read once, but not a book I would listen to more than once. Unfortunate, this could have been a great read.

Technically sound.....Great detail.....

Amazing read....laughs, tears and so much thanks and Respect. Every American should read!!! Thank you Chris Wallace

Great Story !!!!

First of all Thank you all (and I do mean all) that where involved in this Man Hunt. Great book I will listen to a gain and again I’m sure I missed things.

May God continue to Bless America. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Soto, Out.

A Good First Read on the Getting bin Laden Mission

An easy read, well documented account of the killing bin Laden operation. As for the "slobbering" over President Obama, that may be a bit harsh. Although I am personally not a fan of the former president, in this case, I do believe he is owed a great deal on the way he handled the decision to get ObL. Chris did a great job is laying out the options and clearly the only one that made sense is the one executed. The intimate stories of the various participants added interest to the account, especially the K9. The "Wallace opinions" on Trump were unnecessary, as they do not have any bearing on the story and for Chris to use this platform to throw in political digs is uncalled for. Came close to ruining the story for me. Objectively, Chris Wallace as a narrator is superb, none better among all of the audio books I have listened to.

Another good take.

Having read both Rob O'Neil's The Operator and Will Chesney's No Ordinary Dog (I highly recommend both!), I decided to give Wallace's book a shot. It was very insightful and well written, despite some of his obvious personal politics being inserted from time to time. Wallace gives insights from various points of view including the POTUS, CIA Analysts, Naval Special Warfare Operators, and many more. If the Bin Laden raid interest you definitely give this a listen.