NEW YORK – Brett McGurk, a senior U.S. negotiator involved in efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, is set to publish a book this fall recounting the high-stakes diplomacy behind the crisis.
Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced that McGurk’s “Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages” will be released Oct. 6, nearly three years after the Hamas-led assault that killed more than 1,000 people and resulted in more than 200 people being taken hostage.
McGurk, 53, is a veteran Middle East adviser and diplomat who had served in three presidential administrations before President Joe Biden tapped him in 2023 to lead hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Crown says the book will trace McGurk’s urgent, globe-spanning efforts to navigate the entrenched demands of both sides and push toward 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 said McGurk will also reveal details about a proposed agreement before Oct. 7 that would have normalized relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The book is also expected to recount his unexpected partnership with Steve Witkoff, an appointee of President Donald Trump, as the two worked through negotiations during the transition from Biden’s Democratic administration to Trump’s Republican one. The remaining surviving hostages were released in October 2025.
“‘Brink’ details the bipartisan front they forged when it mattered most, ultimately securing a deal that would save lives,” Crown said in its announcement.
