The Butcher's Trail

How the Search for Balkan War Criminals Became the World's Most Successful Manhunt

By: Julian Borger

Narrated by: Paul Hodgson

Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The gripping untold story of The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and how the perpetrators of Balkan war crimes were captured by the most successful manhunt in history.

Written with a thrilling narrative pull, The Butcher's Trail chronicles the pursuit and capture of the Balkan war criminals indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. Borger recounts how Radovan Karadžic and Ratko Mladic - both now on trial in The Hague - were finally tracked down and describes the intrigue behind the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav president who became the first head of state to stand before an international tribunal for crimes perpetrated in a time of war.

Based on interviews with former special forces soldiers, intelligence officials, and investigators from a dozen countries - most speaking about their involvement for the first time - this book reconstructs a 14-year manhunt carried out almost entirely in secret. Indicting the worst war criminals that Europe had known since the Nazi era, the ICTY ultimately accounted for all 161 suspects on its wanted list, a feat never before achieved in political and military history.

©2016 Julian Borger (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Informative

With some knowledge of the history of the 1990’s Balkan wars, and the players involved, this was an interesting and informative listen. However, the narrator’s lack of a basic understanding of Serbo-Croatian phonetics, mispronouncing the main characters’ names throughout the book, was disappointing and distracting. Proper pronunciation of the main characters’ names should be fundamental to narrating a story.

A very important work

There is no peace without truth. Borger’s work is hugely important, not just for the countries of former Yugoslavia but also for the concept of international justice as a whole. Thorough, well researched book from someone who understands the region, the politics and the main protagonists.

Fascinating story and suspenseful narration

Anyone interested in the former Yugoslavia and the human rights case will be captivated by this manhunt

Outstanding

Gripping account of the hunt for Balkan war criminals. A tragic war in our time.

The most comprehensive and unbiased account of ICTY’s inception and development to date

I have been looking for a book like this for years. One that speaks with little bias to the atrocities that took place in The Balkans, tied to development of international criminal law. The author is very well informed and tells a full story of all aspects which brought the ICTY to existence and it’s successes and failures and implications for the future.

Excellent in Every Way

What did you love best about The Butcher's Trail?

This is a great narrative of a tragic period in Balkan history. Solid research and reporting is woven into a story that gives a glimpse into the twisted minds that were responsible for genocide.

Have you listened to any of Paul Hodgson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Paul Hodgson's narration matched the story perfectly.

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this one.

Superficial account of a string of arrests

First, the narrator is GREAT; he has a lovely voice and neutral delivery, which I appreciate. The book itself, however, does not succeed. It seems like a compilation of newspaper accounts of individual arrests. There's no detail regarding the trials of the war criminals, other than their complaints over the manner of their arrest, so the book feels repetitious, recounting one arrest after another. It does illustrate the difficulties of arresting war criminals when the governments of the states in which they reside have no interest in seeing them arrested or prosecuted, but this is not enough to sustain my interest. I deleted the book after hearing 65%.