Every reporter knows the first rule of journalism: never betray your source. But what if your source turns out to be unworthy of your silence? What if it’s your source who betrays you?
From the author of Jilted Generation: How Britain Has Bankrupted Its Youth, Penguin set to release investigative journalism and storytelling of the highest order
The Messenger By Shiv Malik
Gripping and disquieting, this true story of homegrown terrorism and shifting allegiances is as thrilling as any spy novel. I devoured it in a single sitting’
CAL FLYN, author of Thicker than Water
The Messenger is about the unlikely friendship between two men looking to change the world – a repentant jihadist and a journalist.
This troubling real life thriller takes us from their first meeting in a Spartan flat in the rough suburbs of Manchester, through a dramatic arrest, a bombing, a stabbing and a reporting career on the brink of ruin.
Six years later, Malik returns to this extraordinary story. He probes where we place our faith – in reams of evidence, in a government we believe is on our side, in a trusted source, in a terrorist who swears he’s changed, in a friend who has no one but you. He asks the uncomfortable questions about why he, as well as the wider media, and the nation came to be so afraid. And he lays bare the deceits pedalled to us by governments and terrorists alike.
Praise
‘As gripping as any spy novel, and altogether more unnerving… Malik’s frankness is compelling’
The Guardian
‘Enthralling and important, an unforgettable journey through the dark corridor where truth collides with the chicanery of government and sources are never quite what they seem.’ Mark Townsend, Observer
‘This story has literally kept me up at night way past bedtime. Riveting and so moving. What a great book.’ Katherine Kilalea, author of Ok, Mr Field
About the author
Shiv Malik is a reporter for The Guardian. He has written for New Statesman, the Sunday Times and the Independent on Sunday among others. He is a regular contributor in the UK media – Newsnight, Today, Channel 4 News – on issues of terrorism and economics. He is the author of Jilted Generation: How Britain Has Bankrupted Its Youth.
