First published 2006
Eric Rudolph was meant to be dead. After five years hiding in the North Carolina mountains, the FBI had given up their massive manhunt. The bomber who attacked the Atlanta Olympics, a gay bar, and two abortion clinics had become a ghost story. Federal agents assumed he had fled the country or died in the wilderness. Instead, Rudolph survived by stealing food and trucks while moving through familiar terrain. He watched his hunters from the shadows until one careless night led to capture by a small-town police officer. Maryanne Vollers gained exclusive access to Rudolph himself, along with FBI agents, prosecutors, and his defense team. She explores whether Rudolph fits the federal profile of a hate-filled extremist or matches his family's description of a curious, engaging man. Profilers place him alongside Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kaczynski as a lone offender who sees himself as a hero while society calls him a monster. The book examines this contradiction without excusing his violent crimes.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, crime, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, unreliable-narrator
Setting: North Carolina, Atlanta
Period: 1990s, 2000s
368 pages · Hardcover · HarperCollins
Content warnings: violence