The Mirage Man

Starred review from May 30, 2011
Willman, a Pulitzer Prizeâwinning journalist, offers a nuanced account of the bungled FBI investigation into the "anthrax attacks" as the Bush administration strove to use the public panic to strengthen their case to go to war, while the culprit was, in all likelihood, a military microbiologist named Bruce Ivins. Willman traces Ivins's unhappy life, how he endured childhood abuse and privation to become a successful scientist only to find his life unraveling as a result of his bizarre obsessions and fixations with womenâfrom co-workers to a reality TV star and members of a local campus sorority. Willman pivots to focus on the flawed investigationâhow the FBI targeted terrorist groups and, later, the wrong scientist, Steven Hatfillâand how, perversely, Ivins benefited both financially and professionally from the public paranoia about anthrax as his research into an anthrax vaccine became a national priority. Willman makes the case against Ivinsâand against the political uses of the caseâwith admirable fair-mindedness and narrative flair.

May 15, 2011

An investigative journalist provides an in-depth exploration of the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, finding that quite a few people did not acquit themselves well.

In his first book, Pulitzer Prize–winning Los Angeles Times reporter Willman painstakingly recounts the mysterious mailings of anthrax spores to various media and political figures in the weeks after 9/11. When news of the attacks came to light, they seemed to represent a piece of a larger plot by still-undefined enemies. Willman focuses on Bruce Ivins, an obscure scientist working on developing anthrax vaccines in a military lab in Maryland. On the surface, Ivins appeared to be quirky and socially awkward. But there were disturbing currents running beneath the surface—he suffered from mental-health issues and had longstanding obsessions with institutions such as a national college sorority, whose members he stalked and harassed. Much of the narrative reads like a brief for the prosecution, but in the process of trying to get to the bottom of the anthrax attacks, Willman makes clear that many involved in the investigation acted incompetently, maliciously or irresponsibly, including cocksure but ignorant members of the national media and FBI officials, who seem to have settled on the guilt of another obscure scientist, thus doing harm to the investigation by limiting its purview. Willman also examines another consequence of the anthrax attacks: They helped clear the way for the Bush administration's war in Iraq. Though less successful in this argument, the author offers finely drawn sketches of the individuals and forensics involved in a case that vexed investigators, politicians and the general public.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2011

Willman, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Los Angeles Times reporting on the anthrax attacks, here provides a highly detailed account of the federal government's investigation of the series of letters laced with deadly anthrax spores that were sent out just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The contents of the letters killed five people and injured many more. After years of focusing the investigation on a scientist who was eventually cleared of all charges, the FBI, Willman believes, finally got its man. But the chief suspect, Bruce Ivins, a government anthrax expert who worked for the U.S. Army in Maryland, committed suicide before he was brought to trial. Willman presents a strong case of circumstantial evidence that Ivins was indeed the anthrax killer. But, he concedes, some doubt remains. More important, the book reveals serious shortcomings in the nation's law enforcement and national security bureaucracy. VERDICT Willman has produced an impressive piece of investigative journalism that will be of interest to all Americans but particularly to those involved in national security, law enforcement, and civil liberties.--Robert Bruce Slater, Stroudsburg, PA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2011
When government scientist Bruce Ivins committed suicide in 2008, he complicated closing the FBI case against the anthrax killer, who murdered five people and sickened many more by sending deadly anthrax through the mail. The FBI had spent years since the 2001 incident pursuing the wrong suspect. Ivins, who had severe psychiatric problems but had never been evaluated for mental fitness, worked in a sensitive biodefense lab. He held the patent on a new anthrax vaccine and was further motivated by a compulsive need for attention. Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Willman deftly chronicles how Ivins' life of suspicions and obsessions merged with the panicked atmosphere following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and led to the anthrax murders. Willman also details how the push by government officials and conspiracy theorists to conclude that there was terrorist involvement in the mailings to U.S. media and lawmakers led to the unjustified war cry against Iraq. Though Ivins died before he could be tried, Willman offers a compelling portrait of the man and the nearly fumbled investigation that was close to bringing him to justice for his chilling murders.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2011

An investigative journalist provides an in-depth exploration of the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, finding that quite a few people did not acquit themselves well.

In his first book, Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times reporter Willman painstakingly recounts the mysterious mailings of anthrax spores to various media and political figures in the weeks after 9/11. When news of the attacks came to light, they seemed to represent a piece of a larger plot by still-undefined enemies. Willman focuses on Bruce Ivins, an obscure scientist working on developing anthrax vaccines in a military lab in Maryland. On the surface, Ivins appeared to be quirky and socially awkward. But there were disturbing currents running beneath the surface--he suffered from mental-health issues and had longstanding obsessions with institutions such as a national college sorority, whose members he stalked and harassed. Much of the narrative reads like a brief for the prosecution, but in the process of trying to get to the bottom of the anthrax attacks, Willman makes clear that many involved in the investigation acted incompetently, maliciously or irresponsibly, including cocksure but ignorant members of the national media and FBI officials, who seem to have settled on the guilt of another obscure scientist, thus doing harm to the investigation by limiting its purview. Willman also examines another consequence of the anthrax attacks: They helped clear the way for the Bush administration's war in Iraq. Though less successful in this argument, the author offers finely drawn sketches of the individuals and forensics involved in a case that vexed investigators, politicians and the general public.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)