BRINK: INSIDE THE RACE TO FREE THE OCTOBER 7TH HOSTAGES
BY BRETT MCGURK
OCTOBER 6, 2026
PUBLISHER: CROWN
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The first major insider account of the high-stakes negotiations to free the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7—written in gripping detail by the American mediator who was in the room through it all
Having served four American presidents on matters of war and peace, Brett McGurk was no stranger to high-stakes diplomacy, but this was different. With American citizens missing, the hostages’ release critical to ending the war in Gaza, and the desperate situation for civilians, McGurk and his team faced impossible tradeoffs at every turn. Caught between Hamas’s maximalist demands and Israel’s determination that Hamas could not maintain power in Gaza, McGurk and his colleagues worked relentlessly over fifteen months to get a deal that most increasingly thought impossible.
Taking readers inside McGurk’s discussions and negotiations with President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and presidents, generals, spies, and diplomats in Qatar, Egypt, Oman, and more, Brink paints a portrait of a region one wrong choice away from tipping into total war, as Iran and its proxy militias seized upon the chaos to open fire on Israeli and American targets. With the 2024 election reshaping the political landscape and time running out on the hostages, McGurk found himself working hand in hand with an unlikely partner—Trump’s emissary from the New York real estate world, Steve Witkoff. They forged a bipartisan front when it mattered most—to secure a ceasefire and save lives.
A gripping account of diplomacy under fire, Brink takes readers from the Oval Office to the seats of power in the Middle East and offers a remarkable look inside a crisis that reshaped the world, the consequences of which are still unfolding today.
Indigo / Amazon
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Reviews
“Readers don’t expect an edge-of-your-seat thriller from a diplomat. But Brett McGurk delivers one with Brink. It is the brutal story of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that left over a thousand Israelis slaughtered and 250 taken into Gaza as hostages. What follows is an account of McGurk’s unrelenting effort to rescue as many of those hostages as possible. It is a tale of promise and frustration, of hope and despair, of sadness and pain and, ultimately, of the persistence and resolve of an extraordinary diplomat.”—Robert M. Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense 2006-2011
“The massacre in Israel by Hamas gunmen in the fall of 2023 kicked off the most tumultuous and far-reaching changes in the region’s history. Brett McGurk takes us inside the White House to give us a dramatic and intimate account of those epochal days, from the moment Israel’s fences were breached to his agonizing final efforts to free Hamas’ hostages. Brink is as riveting as a suspense novel—except it’s true.”—Dexter Filkins, Pulitzer Prize–winning foreign correspondent and author of The Forever War
“I have known Brett McGurk through years when the United States faced some of its hardest tests in modern foreign policy. Across administrations of both parties, he earned the confidence of presidents, diplomats, military commanders, and allies through his strategic discipline, mastery of detail, and steady judgment under pressure. In Brink, McGurk brings readers inside the difficult reality of modern statecraft, where diplomacy unfolds in the shadow of war and every decision carries consequence. A serious book about a serious time.”—General Jim Mattis, USMC (Retired), U.S. Secretary of Defense 2017-2018
“A real life thriller, brilliantly written. McGurk takes you into the rooms where it happened, from the Oval Office to a tent in the Saudi desert, with the presidents, prime ministers and royalty who made it happen. Brink is the latest chapter in McGurk’s extraordinary career, spanning four presidencies and covering the war in Iraq, the rise and fall of ISIS and the elusive quest for Middle East peace.”—Ambassador Ryan Crocker, six-time U.S. ambassador, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
“An extraordinary and riveting insider account of diplomacy at the edge of war. Brett McGurk takes us inside the highest-stakes negotiations after October 7, revealing with remarkable immediacy how force, leverage, persistence, and personal relationships shaped the effort to free the Israeli hostages and contain a regional conflagration. Brink is statecraft rendered as a page-turner—authoritative, candid, deeply human, and masterfully told.”—General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.); former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Commander, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; former Director of the CIA; co-author of Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare From 1945 to Gaza; Kissinger Fellow, Yale University
“Brett McGurk is one of the finest public servants I have ever known, and no book I have read captures the inner working of high-stakes diplomacy better than Brink. The raw emotions, the twists and turns, the gut-wrenching losses and the inspiring and hopeful outcomes will keep the reader glued to the pages. Brink is the book we all need right now to restore our faith in those who serve the American people.”—Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Retired)
“This riveting account of a high-stakes bipartisan effort to free hostages is a case study of what diplomacy should be.”—Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk
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See also:
Brink as reviewed by Fintan O’Toole for New York Times – October 6, 2026
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The Hostages of October 7, 2023 – Stand With Us
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About the book:
Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages
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by Brett McGurk
Crown – 318 pages $18.99 (Kindle)
Publication Date: October 6, 2026
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 A
bout the Author: Brett McGurk
Brett McGurk is a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. McGurk served as deputy assistant to former US President Joe Biden and White House coordinator for the Middle East region. In this role, he spearheaded responses to some of the most complex diplomatic challenges of our time–from helping lead multi-month negotiations across the region to secure the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza, to coordinating Israel’s defense against the largest ballistic missile attacks in history, and to overseeing all aspects of US engagement throughout the Middle East and North Africa at moments of acute crisis and opportunity.
Throughout his career, McGurk has been at the forefront of modern diplomacy’s evolution—from championing new technology and energy corridors between India, the Gulf states, Israel, Jordan, and Europe, to witnessing firsthand how AI and computing infrastructure have become essential to maintaining strategic partnerships and global influence. He also has a first-hand understanding of how breakthrough defense technologies employed by US military forces can deter future conflicts, provided the United States maintains its leading technological edge.
As special presidential envoy for US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, McGurk built and then led a global coalition of more than eighty countries together with local forces on the ground to defeat ISIS and prevent future attacks into Europe as well as the US homeland. He also led secret negotiations with Iran to secure the release of American hostages, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, later receiving the James Foley Freedom Award for hostage diplomacy. As a senior White House official under George W. Bush, McGurk was an early advocate for a change in war policy and helped develop “the surge” to better align the ends and means of US strategy.
During a brief period out of government service in 2019 and 2020, McGurk taught graduate courses on strategy and presidential decision-making at Stanford and served on the board of a Lux company, Primer, which harnesses AI and natural language processing for real-time analysis in crisis and operational environments. Biography Credit: Atlantic Council
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