A lead American negotiator who worked to secure the release of hostages taken during the Hamas attacks on Israel will publish a behind-the-scenes account of those efforts this coming fall.
Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, has announced Brett McGurk’s upcoming book, titled “Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages,” will hit shelves on October 6 — nearly three years to the day after the Hamas assault that killed more than 1,000 people and resulted in over 200 individuals being taken captive.
McGurk, 53, is a veteran Middle East diplomat and adviser who had already served under three presidents before President Joe Biden tapped him in 2023 to lead hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Crown says McGurk will recount his intense efforts to bridge the deeply divided demands of both sides, traveling across the globe in search of a deal.
“On October 7, Hamas unleashed a devastating war and the largest hostage crisis in modern history,” McGurk said in a statement released Wednesday by Crown. “I wrote ‘Brink’ to bring readers inside the rooms as events unfolded in real time — from the Situation Room with hundreds of missiles in the air, to compounds across the Middle East where diplomacy teetered between breakthrough and collapse.”
The publisher also says McGurk will reveal details about a near-agreement prior to October 7 that could have normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He will also reflect on his unexpected working partnership with Steve Witkoff, an appointee of President Donald Trump, as the two navigated hostage talks during the transition between the Biden and Trump administrations. The last surviving hostages were ultimately freed in October 2025.
“‘Brink’ details the bipartisan front they forged when it mattered most, ultimately securing a deal that would save lives,” the publisher’s announcement states.
