Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

About the Book

In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow 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.

All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance that could not be explained - until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood, to Washington and beyond.

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.

Both a spy thriller and a meticulous work of investigative journalism, CATCH AND KILL breaks devastating new stories about the rampant abuse of power - and sheds far-reaching light on investigations that shook the culture.

About the Author :
Ronan Farrow is a contributing writer to the New Yorker, where his investigative reporting has won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the National Magazine Award and the George Polk Award, among other honors. He previously worked as an anchor and investigative reporter at MSNBC and NBC News and is currently producing documentaries for HBO. His print commentary and reporting has appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. Before his career in journalism, he served as a State Department official in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence. Farrow has been named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People and one of GQ's Men of the Year. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the New York Bar. He recently completed a DPhil in political science at Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He lives in New York.

Review :
Darkly funny and poignant . . . a winning account of how it feels to be at the centre of the biggest story in the world. It is also, of course, a breathtakingly dogged piece of reporting, in the face of extraordinary opposition - Guardian

Extraordinary . . . As some American critics have already observed, Farrow's narrative has the pace of a thriller . . . Farrow's book captures the terror and paranoia that eat away at Weinstein's victims for the simple reason that he comes to experience them himself, a human mirror. The producer's sphere of influence extends ever outwards, like the powerful arms of some giant squid - Observer

Meticulous and devastating . . . Catch and Kill is part All the President's Men, part spy thriller - Daily Mail

[A] scoop-filled book, part reporting memoir, part spy thriller . . . Riveting and often shocking . . . Catch and Kill has gone off like a hand grenade in the world of New York media . . . compelling - Sunday Times

Farrow knows he has a humdinger of a story, but he also has a nuanced appreciation of how women are smeared and discredited, of how the lines dividing news and show business have blurred . . . lively and wide-ranging - The Times