Hack Attack

Reviews

“First in the Guardian and now in this book, the reporting of Nick Davies has revealed the insidious abuse of power—and the public trust—by the Murdoch press from the top down. The British hacking scandal is the ultimate expression of Murdoch culture run amok: corruption in the Fourth Estate as dangerous to democracy as the worst excesses of heads of state.”

“There is so much excess and human pathology on display here, it makes Bonfire of the Vanities seem restrained…[Davies] is, as it turns out, just the kind of person you want to have on your tail. It’s less about his strategic brilliance and more about an innate refusal to give up—ever.”

“If any one person deserves to place himself squarely at the center of this tale, it is Mr. Davies, who spent three years chipping away at a tower of lies, enduring attacks on his credibility and overcoming stonewalling of the first order to produce his account of tabloid criminality and British officialdom’s role in covering it up…As Mr. Davies pursues his quarry, readers are introduced to the seamy underside of Fleet Street, a brutally transactional place of ‘casual treachery’ where people volunteer ‘to sell the secrets of those who most trust them’…It’s journalism noir, and it’s not surprising that last week George Clooney announced that he plans to direct a film version.”

“Only one reporter has dogged the story from start to finish—deeply sourced among hacking victims, journalists, lawyers, police, and politicians. Davies’ associates say he excels because he can comprehend the big political picture but also never forgets the vast trove of small, telling details.”

“Nick Davies is Britain’s greatest investigative journalist…[Hack Attack] is as exciting as a thriller but far more important…This should be compulsory reading in journalism schools and must be read by anyone who wishes to understand how British politics actually works.”

“[Nick Davies] has, in his exhumation of this trove of journalistic ordure, done a colossal service to Britain’s democracy…Hack Attack is the book of a very bold reporter about a passage of arms that he won, to our great benefit.”

“Davies is the perfect person to corral this massive plume of facts and evasions into a single volume.”

“Hack Attack is an important reminder of the evils that can result when the media itself becomes so powerful and corrupt that it is accountable to no one—least of all to the public whose interests they are intended to serve.”

“[Hack Attack] is important, not simply because it is written by a superb reporter who took on a seemingly invulnerable criminal conspiracy, or because it is…the best account we have of the phone-hacking scandal and the attendant police corruption and cover-ups. It is, as well, the story of modern Britain and how its standards and politics have been degraded by one man’s ruthless acquisition of power. Davies has laid it all bare in an exciting, clear and honest narrative.”

“You would expect the Guardian’s Nick Davies, who exposed phone hacking and other criminality among News of the World journalists, to write the best full-length account of the scandal, and so he has. He gives us not just the story…but also the story behind the story, explaining how and why he set about exposing the NoW’s endemic criminality.”

“In his first-hand, panoramic account of the hacking scandal from 2008 to the present day, Nick Davies artfully draws the connections between Murdoch’s newspaper group and the officially powerful, and their corrosive impact on the public’s interests…Hack Attack captures a picture of bullying and nepotism that should be absent from a democratic society.”

“Davies…makes Captain Ahab and Inspector Javert look like quitters.”

“This book is a major achievement: a master class in investigative journalism made all the more fascinating by the wealth of color that’s like something from another era.”

“The reporter who broke Britain’s phone-hacking scandal probes the media industry’s corrupt nexus of power and propaganda in this searing exposé…His narrative, studded with new revelations about Fleet Street’s spying techniques, flows like a breathless thriller…Davies paints a lurid, gossipy picture of Fleet Street, especially Murdoch’s newspapers, whose rabid pursuit of sex and dirt, he argues, serves not just to sell papers but also to smear opponents and sway politics in favor of Murdoch’s business interests…This is investigative journalism at its most riveting and provocative.”

“Reads like a detective novel and will be of great interest to both journalists and students of media studies.”

“Davies is known for his tenacious grip on his targets and his cutting, vivid writing style…Davies has crafted nothing less than a primer on how to patiently, doggedly investigate a story.”

“This is the book we’ve been waiting for, the thrilling and important inside story of how a single reporter came through with the truth of the hacking scandal. He exposed shameful intrusions, the years of deceit, lies, and bullying. And he did more. He revealed a rottenness at the heart of British life in the relations of press, police, and Parliament, institutions that, taken as a whole, failed the big test. Hack Attack is an indictment of the worst of journalism but is itself an exhilarating demonstration of how the best of journalism—hard-won, honest reporting—is the lifeblood of any democracy.”

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