Nick McDonell – författare

Since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003, hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians have died each month as a result of war-related violence in Iraq. The Iraq Body Count Project estimates at least 179,000 civilian casualties of war to date, a number that many believe is an undercount, but that continues to grow steadily to this day. Of the many questions arising from these numbers--numbers for which no one assumes responsibility, and which have been presented, historically, as fallout--perhaps the most fundamental question, for an American citizen, is this: How many civilian casualties should the United States tolerate?Solatia (Greek for "reparations"), written by journalist Nick McDonell, sets out to answer that question. In all its wars, the United States both condemns and causes civilian casualties. But what exactly constitutes a civilian casualty? Why do they occur? What do our officials know of those reasons? How do they decide how many people they are willing to kill by accident--in a night raid, or drone strike, or invasion? And who, exactly, gets to decide? Solatia is a globe-trotting, decade-spanning exploration into one of the most controversial issues in the world. Interviewing intel officers, senators, police chiefs, widowed mothers, drone strike teams, Shiite militants, and many other sources, McDonell weaves together a character-driven narrative history that explains how the world''s most powerful country can get things so wrong.

A young man goes from Ivy League to international intrigue: "A spy who could have easily walked off the pages of le Carré's better works."—Publishers WeeklyMike Teak has a classic Harvard profile. He's a twenty-five-year-old scholar/athlete from an upper-class family who was recruited by his godfather to work for a U.S. intelligence agency. On a covert mission in a Somali village, he delivers cash and cell phones to Hatashil, a legendary orphan warrior turned rebel leader. It's a routine assignment until, minutes after they meet, the village is decimated by a missile assault, and although Mike escapes, his life is changed forever.Echoing across continents, the assault disrupts professor Susan Lowell, who has just won a Pulitzer Prize for her book celebrating Hatashil. Also shaken is Lowell's student, David Ayan, who was born in the targeted village, a world away from Harvard's most exclusive final club, the Porcellian, which is courting him and Jane, the smart, risk-taking daughter of East Coast money who's sleeping with him. David Ayan struggles with his identity and Susan Lowell struggles against rumors about her relationship with Hatashil, who has been accused of ordering the village massacre. But it is Mike Teak who faces the most dangerous struggle—because when he discovers a horrific conspiracy, he immediately realizes that he has become expendable, with nowhere to run and no one to trust."It's clear this young writer has only begun to show where his prodigious storytelling will take us." —People"Smart and sexy." —The Washington Post"Tempered by some hilarious insider glimpses of Harvard life, An Expensive Education is terrific, a thriller noir that's difficult to put down or forget." —Entertainment Weekly (A-)

An army roadblock. An American intelligence agent. A jetlagged afternoon on the Somalian plain. Michael Teak is not afraid of mercenaries. Life here comes at a price and as a CIA operative, Teak is holding the money. On the back seat of his car is a suitcase stuffed with narcotics; in the front, a gun and an envelope of US dollars. And then a bomb explodes.Thirty innocent victims. An entire village of women and children - all dead. And just like that, Michael Teak does not know anything for sure. Was he the target, or the scapegoat for mass murder with an international fallout? Abandoned, perhaps betrayed, by his employer, Teak is in the wind with nowhere to turn. Even his old sources are caught up in the media bloodbath back at his alma mater. These events have to be connected. Someone, somewhere, has all the cards and for a man running right down to the wire, the rules of the game are becoming dangerously blurred.

»Dieser Debütroman erzählt eine Geschichte, die so schnell ist wie Speed und so erbarmungslos wie Acid.« The New York TimesWhite Mike ist clean. Er raucht nicht, er trinkt nicht, er kifft nicht. Aber er ist ein erfolgreicher Drogendealer. White Mike war gut in der Schule, auch wenn die Schulzeit seit sechs Monaten vorbei ist. Und obwohl sich manche Leute fragen, was er eigentlich die ganze Zeit treibt, kümmert es keinen, dass sich White Mike ein Jahr Auszeit nimmt, bevor er dann aufs College geht. Vielleicht aber auch nicht. White Mikes Kunden sind Highschool-Schüler, die in den Schulferien gegen die Langeweile kämpfen und dabei viel Geld ausgeben. Während ihre erfolgreichen Eltern im Urlaub oder auf Geschäftsreisen sind, feiern sie in deren New Yorker Villen und Luxusapartments Sex- und Drogenpartys. Es ist kurz nach Weihnachten, und Silvester soll die größte Party aller Zeiten stattfinden ...Der Roman Zwölf, den Nick McDonell im Alter von siebzehn Jahren schrieb, wurde weltweit als literarische Sensation gefeiert und stand monatelang auf den amerikanischen Bestsellerlisten.»Ein schnelles Buch. McDonell beschreibt hautnah und manchmal schockierend das Lebensgefühl der New-Yorker Nachwuchsschickeria.« Brigitte Young Miss