Judit Neurink: The Good Terrorist: a novel based on true-life stories from the Caliphate – Book review

Judit Neurink: The Good Terrorist is a unique book. It is a truly engaging novel, like any decent suspense story with relationships you feel invested in, one that is hard to put down, where you want to know what happens next to persons you deeply care for. At the same time, it is an insightful story which gives nuances to the stereotypical Western narrative of Muslim terrorists. The book deals with the horrendous crimes committed in Iraq by the 'Islamic State' under their self-declared Caliphate (2014-2017), where we follow some of the people directly involved with the violent extremism of Daesh/ISIS. Nevertheless, it succeeds in delivering a disarming story with believable characters, based on deep knowledge, in a well-written style and even with a hopeful narrative (without the slightest naïve ending). The author, Dutch journalist Judit Neurink, is well positioned to write this story as someone who lived and worked in Kurdistan during the whole period, interviewing people who defected or were involved in different ways.