Summary

The Prologue begins in a Jordanian prison in early 2015, where failed Iraqi suicide bomber Sajida al-Riashawi has been held captive since botching her part in the November 2005 Amman bombings. Jordan’s King Abdullah II has ordered Rishawi to be hanged because ISIS – short for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – have called for her freedom in exchange for the release of a Jordanian pilot the terrorist sect has recently taken hostage. Rishawi is mockingly referred to by some Jordanian authorities as “Zarqawi’s woman,” because she undertook the 2005 mission ordered by the late Jordanian terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Sixty died in these attacks – carried out by three suicide bombers – in Jordan’s worst-ever incident of terrorism. Rishawi’s bomb, however, failed to detonate, resulting in her fleeing the scene and her eventual capture. In doing so, the book draws a connection between...