The year’s best spy thriller is stranger and more horrifying than fiction.
He weaves a breathless narrative as compelling as it is disturbing.
(All of these men listed have denied claims of sexual misconduct.)
It often includes spin in the press and the manipulation of tabloid pages.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve become immune to that.
I’m human, and it’s stressful and scary.
Powerful interests saying they are going to wipe you out is not a fun experience.
He vetted this book really exhaustively.
Near the very end of the book you say, “I just wanted my job back.”
But that is under the surface.
It also at times reads like a genuine spy thriller.
This meeting between spies introduces the book with this fascinating genre-feel, and the narrative is pretty propulsive.
Obviously, the book is a different format and medium, but you are really the story here.
Both things are true: I worked very, very hard.
I needed to literally take two years to do careful reporting to get out that story about the story.
Trustworthy, fair reporting is the lifeblood of democracy.
We need that and a certain admiration for all the reporters to do it.
Let’s get into Matt Lauer’s presence in this book.
He pops up early on, almost in signals to the reader to pay attention.
Matt Lauer was very much in that category.
(Lauer strongly denies the allegation, whileNBC deniesit tried to cover up Nevils' allegation.)
It’s the finale ofCatch and Killin a lot of ways.
Can you talk about that decision, structurally?
And like any sources in my stories, I regarded all her claims with maximum skepticism.
I had no animus towards Matt or any of the people involved in that situation.
Literally just trying to get the facts right, and you’re correct.
But it also reflects that old T.S.
Eliot line about returning the place you started, and understanding it for the first time.
I’m butchering it.
[Laughs] But you get the idea.
Why did this feel like the place for this book to be completed?
Threats to the press can become an absolutely instrumental part of shutting down a democracy.
But I think none of us can rest on our laurels.
People are still deploying extreme tactics to kill stories.
Media organizations are sometimes doing incredible work standing up to that, and sometimes not.
I felt that this was an important time to have this conversation about this reporting.
The Black Cube reporting comes to a head.
It gives a sense of a broader cultural problem.
That must have been a bit of a trip for you.
Reading through all of Harvey Weinstein’s communications in that timeframe was a very intimidating experience.
So that was a painful realization that had already happened.
He was asking, essentially, “What’s the playbook?
How do I deal with this?”
A personal narrative running through the book is your relationship with your sister, Dylan.
You’re not even sure you’re making the right choice at the time.
This isn’t worth the cost."
I hope that personal story is helpful to people on both sides of those relationships.
I’ve been there.
Dylan also guides you through the reporting process and offers insight into her own experience of not being believed.
The veracity of those conversations and my notes on them were tested against her recollections independently.
So the answer is yes: She did get to weigh in.
It was a really nice resolution to the story that her illustrations are in the book.
I thought she killed it.
The press is still embattled.
I think the issues are live.
I hope and pray that I get the chance to continue to report on them.
I hope that it feels like a satisfying end when people close that back cover.
I really strived for that.
