Agent Storm cover art

Agent Storm

My Life Inside al-Qaeda

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Agent Storm

By: Morten Storm, Paul Cruickshank, Tim Lister
Narrated by: Neil Shah
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £10.34

Buy Now for £10.34

Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Agent Storm: My Life Inside al-Qaeda by Morten Storm with Tim Lister and Paul Cruckshanks. Read by Neil Shah.

He was the Western convert who would plunge deep inside al-Qaeda. He named his first son Osama after 9/11 and became a Jihadist. But then - after a sudden loss of faith - Morten Storm made a life-changing decision. He became a double agent and joined the CIA, MI6 and MI5.

Filled with hair-raising close calls and deception, Storm's story builds to the climactic finale when he must betray his friend and mentor al-Awlaki - al-Qaeda's biggest threat to the West. Storm is trusted to find al-Awlaki a wife from Europe. She becomes the bait for a possible American drone strike.

 Freedom & Security Military & War Political Science Politics & Government War & Crisis
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

Revelatory, extraordinary . . . There are not others [books] in which the main protagonist has also played such an extensive role for western security services, and, more crucially, is prepared to reveal so much (Jason Burke)
A rollicking read and a rare insider's account of Western spying in the age of Al Qaeda, where the risk if exposed is not Cold War-style expulsion but gruesome execution
Explosive
You couldn't make it up . . . Agent Storm couldn't really be less like Bond (Christina Lamb)
Gripping
Reads like a screenplay for a James Bond movie written by Joel and Ethan Coen
Morten Storm's account of his nerve-wracking life spying on Al Qaeda for Western intelligence gives us the most detailed, compelling, and human look at modern espionage in the lethal world of jihadist terrorism that we are likely to get' (Mark Stout, former CIA officer and Director)
Opens a unique window onto bleak interlocking landscapes-the radicalization of European Muslims that has now been energized by the Syrian civil war, the leadership and organization of global jihad, and the twilight struggle waged by western intelligence agencies against an elusive and implacable enemy." (Steven Simon, bestselling co-author of The Age of Sacred Terror and The Next Attack)
Morten Storm, Paul Cruickshank, and Tim Lister tell an astonishing and unknown tale of the exploits, change of allegiances, double crosses and inner workings of both al Qaeda terrorist groups and the Western intelligence agencies charged with stopping them. Hard to put down (Mitch Silber, former Director of Intelligence Analysis at the NYPD and author of The Al Qaeda Factor)
Remarkable. As a true spy-story, this book brings you incredibly close to what it actually takes to be an extremist and get into a terrorist group while balancing loyalty and treachery in the world of intelligence. Essential reading for everyone interested in how the war on terrorism is actually fought in the shadows. (Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, a leading expert on international terrorism)
All stars
Most relevant
Wow on everything! I heard about this book from a youtuber I follow and it was a little different than I expected. A deep and fascinating look into the world of extremism and counterterrorism. This book goes deep into the life of Morten Storm, his early life, radicalisation and his work with government agencies. It is honest about the darkness in all these aspects. The only aspect which I wish was expanded on more was the motivations of his deradicalization. Sometime large event can be epiphanies and are difficult to quantify, but this was no reason to mark it down. Well constructed and well told. The Narrator does have an accent but his is very clear and give so much character to the man who's story he is telling as well as gives a voice to the other players involved

A captivating eye opener

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
interesting story which came across very honest with the author admitting to all his bad deeds aa well as his good ones that followed, I personally feel for all his efforts he has not been rewarded or treated nor protected adequately by the government agencies who he helped so much to catch terrorists, gripping story too, highly recommended x

good honest account

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
well worth reading/ listening to for an insight to extremist jihadis. definitely eye opening, and very interesting.

fascinating story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great insight into Islam and the ways people can be drawn into some of the extreme views.

Incredible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

If you could sum up Agent Storm in three words, what would they be?

False, Interesting, Sad

What other book might you compare Agent Storm to, and why?

In the process of reading...

Have you listened to any of Neil Shah’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Nil

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

See below

Any additional comments?

This story centres around the following: a man seeking fame and fortune - to fill a hole inside his heart, that would never be filled. He apparently was a Muslim convert, that eventually rejected the faith, and became a double agent, spying on Al-Qaeda for Western intelligence agencies. I am afraid this man is a professional liar, so much of this story is likely not true, or severely twisted. Try to listen to story between the lines: look at what he means, not what he writes. The other is to gleam some information on the operation of intelligence agencies including CIA, MI5, and PET(Danish CIA).

The protagonist of the story is Morten Storm, a man born in a broken home who never got love or approval of his parents. He was a troubled boy, and I am afraid, from his own story, a troubled man. This is evident in the story when he went as a man to see his birth father who had left his mother when he was young, and was rejected. I suspect his involvement in Islam, Spying, publishing this book etc was to try to get this approval from all his peers and family, to be accepted and respected. This is evident when in the story he forces the Danish Intelligence agencies to tell his mother directly what he was doing as a double agent.

My feelings on this book can be summarised in the following.

1. Why this book is released.
I suspect the intelligence agencies could have easily stopped this book. They either could taken him out, or used laws such as the Secrecy Act to gag or arrest him. Make no mistake the intelligence agencies wanted this release. At this time he still lives in the West. Remember Assange was under house arrest, Snowden is stuck in Russia, Richard Tomlinson is in jail in France and Chelsea Manning was in jail for secrets revelations. And these are only the more prominent people, I am sure there are many others in jail we will never hear about. Perhaps the agency wanted to use this as they thought it possibly as good PR.

2. Intelligence agencies actively radicalise people
"If you don't have permission, create an event to get you permission" If you want to get permission to slap your brother, fake evidence that he ate out of the cookie jar. If you want to arrest people, put pressure on them such as restricted movement, healthcare, and then when they get angry, blame them for being unfair. A lot of the extreme fringe groups, are full of CIA/intelligence agents who recruit and actively radicalise people, so that minorities can be villified. Awlaki was not radicalised until after his 9 month stint in a Yemeni prison, complements of the CIA. Also a young Croatian girl was sent to Awlaki as a wife by this spy, who probably was not radicalised until after she was sent to Yemen. At no point in the story did Morten try to convince anyone to not undertake terrorism, in fact, he fostered it, then collected money leading to the arrest of the radicalised person, he had helped radicalise.

3. This man probably never converted in the first place.
Although he says he converted to Islam, I suspect he never did but was a trained intelligence agency throughout his so called "Muslim" activities. This idea is nothing new, and is employed by the Police to infiltrate a movement.

4. This man and the intelligence agencies are severely corrupt, and morally bankrupt
Both he and the agencies, indulge in illicit such as cocaine use to the the use of prostitution.

I could go on and on.

Should you read this book?
Yes, if you are interested in spy fables, not necessarily to get to the truth.

I pity Mr. Storm, no matter how successful he is, or how much money he gets, he will, forever, never be able to get happiness, when he continues to see outside rather than within.

A sad story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews