Publishers Weekly
09/07/2020
Wall Street Journal investigative reporters Hope (coauthor, Billion Dollar Whale) and Scheck take a comprehensive and alarming look at Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, popularly known as MBS, who has combined efforts to modernize his country with repressive tactics and alleged murder. The seventh son of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, MBS was appointed defense minister when his father took the throne in 2015, and began consolidating control over much of the government. His innovations, including expanded rights for women and the country’s first movie theater, caught the attention of Western politicians and investors, but some bigger projects, including Neom, a city intended to feature flying cars, have failed to get off the ground. In 2017, MBS launched a series of high-profile arrests that were widely condemned outside Saudi Arabia, and was responsible, according to the authors, for the confinement and forced November 2017 resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (who rescinded the resignation a month later). MBS’s alleged culpability in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 has brought further outcry, though the Trump administration, the authors note, has deemed MBS too important to sever ties with. Readers who closely follow the Middle East will find much of the information familiar, but Hope and Scheck marshal their research into a page-turning narrative that persuasively casts MBS as a grave danger to the region. This detailed exposé rings true. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"Blood and Oil is the fascinating and highly entertaining tale of Mohammed bin Salman's rise to power. With fly-on-the-wall reporting and palace intrigue worthy of Machiavelli, it will keep you turning the pages at a fast clip until its tragic denouement. And more importantly, it will leave you with a deep and nuanced understanding of the Crown Prince's thinking and its implications for Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East."
—John Carreyrou, author of Bad Blood
"This is as close to the truth, to the real story of the corruption, vulgarities, horrors, and lies of the Kingdom and its current despot as we are likely to get. It also can be read as a Shakespearean story of utter greed."—Seymour Hersh, author of Chain of Command
"Blood and Oil is the best book I've read about the Middle East. It gets deep into the most opaque place on earth, without a false note anywhere. Not to mention the book is a wonderfully readable page-turner, and indispensable if you want a glimpse of the future of Saudi Arabia and the world."—Robert Baer, author of See No Evil and Sleeping with the Devil
"[Blood and Oil is] lively and well written, and it draws a sharp portrait of the man at its heart....Hope and Scheck have done a great deal of digging and have unearthed some eye-popping tales."—The New York Times Book Review
"Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck chronicle the truly incredible story of MBS's rise in the deep, multidimensional way that only experienced Wall Street Journal reporters can do. The book reads like a novel, but it also plays the critically important role of illuminating a real person who is going to shape our world in ways we would all be better for understanding."—Bethany McLean, author of Saudi America and co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room
"A crisp page-turner of a book teeming with telling detail...Blood and Oil is particularly good on the link-up between the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank....There is plenty more in Hope and Scheck's splendid book."—Financial Times
"An engrossing new book....Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck... deliver a vivid portrait of treachery and power grabs in the Saudi royal court, and attempt to uncover what drives some of the young royal's often reckless decision-making."—NPR.org
"Hope and Scheck confront us with the conundrum of a young man who is doing good by his Kingdom-brilliantly describing how the enigmatic Crown Prince is bringing progress to Arabia as we would see it in the West-while operating with ruthlessness and absolutism that make the stomach curl. Blood and Oil is compelling reading. We are challenged and enthralled on every page."—Robert Lacey, bestselling author of The Crown and Inside the Kingdom
"Explosive."—The Times (UK)
"Excellent."—Forbes
"Blood and Oil is a revelatory book that resonates with a stranger-than-fiction quality as the authors' analysis of the crown prince's brutishness, outlandishness, and reformer's mentality is as riveting as it is profound."—Bryan Burrough, author of Public Enemies and co-author of Barbarians at the Gate
"If you thought you knew Saudi Arabia, such as any outsider could, you didn't — and for as much as you understood the Kingdom and its politics, you don't.... Blood and Oil is a fantastic narrative read into the sweeping changes that Mohammed bin Salman has taken and is taking in Saudi Arabia. It is exceptionally well written, a compelling read.... Blood and Oil is a great addition to contemporary writing on Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman."—Joshua C. Huminski, The Diplomatic Courier
"A fascinating look at how MBS came to power, that a lot of people didn't see coming."—Yahoo! Finance
"For once, the publisher's hype is true. Blood and Oil really is a riveting page-turner, a descent into a nest of vipers, a chilling profile of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman."
—The Irish Times
"In Blood and Oil, Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck have gone to painstaking lengths to lift the veil on the character of a young man shaking up the country, and beyond. The result is a gripping page-turner."—Reuters Breakingviews
"A fiery book with never-heard-of revelations about the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia."
—Albawaba
"A captivating book on the world's financial underbelly."—Corporate Compliance Insights
"Details some jaw-dropping incidents of corruption."—InsideOver
"A superb portrait."
—Coda
"[A] valuable new account...an important addition to the alarming portrait of the unstable, murderous 35-year-old who rules the oil-producing kingdom."—Mondoweiss
"Blood and Oil is a fascinating glimpse into the politics of oil, and how staggering wealth and unchecked ambition created what most would consider a true monster...Blood and Oil unfolds like a fast-paced suspense thriller with the grandiosity of a Shakespearean play...an excellent read, an important book."—The Premise Pod
"This is brave, rigorous, and commendable work."—MoneyControl
"A thorough delineation of the rapacious, ambitious new economic plan for Saudi Arabia by the heir apparent to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman....Wall Street Journal reporters Hope and Scheck diligently chart the rapid rise-and recent faltering-of MBS....[A] meticulous, highly relevant narrative...an excellent work of impressive research on a dangerous world leader."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Scheck and Hope follow the money, emphasizing the crucial role that billion-dollar development projects, investment funds, and public stock offerings played in securing MBS's legitimacy among international elites and the chaotic and highly transactional Trump administration. The authors also caution that MBS, just turning 35, remains a work in progress."
—Booklist (starred review)
"A masterful biography...This fast-paced, well-researched book is an excellent primer on current U.S.-Saudi relations and Middle Eastern dynamics, and will also draw in those interested in palace intrigue."—Library Journal (starred review)
"Hope and Scheck take a comprehensive and alarming look at Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman....[They] marshal their research into a page-turning narrative that persuasively casts MBS as a grave danger to the region. This detailed exposé rings true."
—Publishers Weekly
“Blood and Oil hits the ground running at a frenetic pace with the 2017 arrests. The action and drama underpinning the desert kingdom and its denizens proves completely engrossing. The authors have done admirable work in their profile of Mohammed Bin Salman and his Machiavellian ways. A gripping biography & geopolitical narrative.”—San Francisco Book Review
“As for Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck, they offer the readers an excellent biography of a world leader who knows how to navigate the treacherous waters of politics at its highest level, guided by an astute sense of history. Honestly, this is one of the best books I have read this year.”—Bookmarc Reviews
Library Journal
★ 10/01/2020
Award-winning journalists Hope and Scheck present a masterful biography on Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman, commonly known as MBS. This work reveals how the prince overcame what could be perceived as impossible odds to be Saudi Arabia's strongman. For a long time, Saudi princes were known to be glamorous spenders and cared more deeply about enriching their own pockets. The authors show bin Salman bucked this trend by putting his nationality first before enrichment and crafting an image as a reformer in order to entice business to Saudi Arabia. He loosened Islamic laws to appeal to Western eyes, most notably repealing a ban on women driving. This image as an outside reformer shielded a ruthlessness that the authors do not shy away from divulging—they clearly illustrate how he crafted an inner circle of loyalists and excluded those who questioned or challenged his decision-making. The narrative continues as the prince mercilessly attacked critics on social media, imprisoning them and confiscating their money. Jamal Khashoggi's role is also detailed as he goes from MBS messenger to martyr. VERDICT This fast-paced, well-researched book is an excellent primer on current U.S.-Saudi relations and Middle Eastern dynamics, and will also draw in those interested in palace intrigue.—Jacob Sherman, Univ. of Texas at San Antonio
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2020-08-17
A thorough delineation of the rapacious, ambitious new economic plan for Saudi Arabia by the heir apparent to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman.
Like Ben Hubbard in his recent scathing assessment, MBS, dogged Wall Street Journal reporters Hope and Scheck diligently chart the rapid rise—and recent faltering—of MBS (as he is known colloquially), though this book focuses less on biography and more on his determination to remake the Saudi economy. With the accession of his father to the Saudi Arabian throne in 2015, his seventh son was already expertly positioned at his father’s side to succeed and to carry out a sweeping set of reforms. King Salman, who was the governor of Riyadh for nearly 50 years (until 2011), has been known as the enforcer and disciplinarian in the corrupt, far-flung family. Beginning in 2015, MBS served as defense minister and moved swiftly over the ensuing four years to consolidate his power by squeezing out relatives. Among many other initiatives, he waged war on Yemen; set out to enrich his family in stock trading and other ways, which his father had been loath to do; instigated a staggering economic reform for the country called Vision 2030, which he has consistently touted internationally; courted Donald Trump, “treating him like a king” during his first foreign visit; shook down the richest men in his country by holding them hostage at the Ritz-Carlton until they shelled out; moved ahead with the public listing of the state oil company, Aramco; and, most brazenly, continued to ruthlessly silence his critics—e.g., the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. The last murder nearly derailed him, as the authors point out in their meticulous, highly relevant narrative, and while the international community has grown wary of this lethal upstart, it is too early to tell if MBS will fulfill his bloody-minded vision. The cast of characters and Al Saud family tree are especially helpful.
An excellent work of impressive research on a dangerous world leader.
