The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle - Hardcover

Kent Alexander was the US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia at the time of the 1996 Olympics. He spent hundreds of hours in meetings with the FBI about the bombing, and ultimately, he wrote and hand-delivered Jewell’s clearance letter.

Journalist Kevin Salwen is a former Wall Street Journal columnist and an editor who ran southeastern coverage for the paper during the Olympic Games.

“Intensively reported and fluidly written, 'The Suspect' details the years-long search for the real killer...It is a cautionary tale about the fallibility of the storied feds, the role of luck in breaking big cases, and the conflicted choices faced by the media even at the dawn of the digital age.”, The Wall Street Journal

“The Suspect is a fascinating reconstruction of the Neo-Gothic tale of Richard Jewell, the security guard who was memorably and unjustly implicated in the 1996 bombing at the Atlanta Olympic games. Meticulously reported, bracingly written, full of memorable and bizarre characters, the book casts a wary eye on the worlds of law enforcement and journalism, and their multiple failures in this tale. It’s a story with no winners – except for readers of this terrific book.” -- Jeffrey Toobin, bestselling author, staff writer at the New Yorker, and senior legal analyst at CNN

"From questionable FBI tactics to the role of the press, The Suspect lays bare how Jewell became their unwitting victim in the rush to solve the biggest and most public crime of the era. It is a cautionary tale that reminds us that criminal investigations are often lengthy and painstaking, ill-suited for today’s media frenzy. The Suspect is an important, highly relevant book." -- Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California, Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security, and

“Domestic terror, white nationalism, FBI profilers, a trial by punchline in the infancy of twenty-four-hour news cycle—what happened in Atlanta’s Centennial Park during the ?96 Olympics still echoes like a bomb blast today in this engrossing and meticulously researched ticktock about the railroading of Richard Jewell and the killer who almost got away.” -- Charles Graeber, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Nurse and The Breakthrough