Blood and Oil

Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power: 'The Explosive New Book'

By: Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Longlisted for the 2020 Financial Times / McKinsey Business Book of the Year

"Blood and Oil is the fascinating and highly entertaining tale of Mohammed bin Salman's rise to power. With fly-on-the-wall reporting and palace intrigue worthy of Machiavelli, it will keep you turning the pages at a fast clip until its tragic denouement. And more importantly, it will leave you with a deep and nuanced understanding of the Crown Prince's thinking and its implications for Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East." - John Carreyrou, author of Bad Blood

Thirty-five-year-old Mohammed bin Salman's sudden rise stunned the world. Political and business leaders such as former Prime Minister Tony Blair and WME Chairman Ari Emanuel flew out to meet with the Crown Prince and came away convinced that his desire to reform the kingdom was sincere. He spoke passionately about bringing women into the workforce and toning down Saudi Arabia's restrictive Islamic law. He lifted the ban on women driving and explored investments in Silicon Valley.

But 'MBS' began to betray an erratic interior beneath the polish laid on by scores of consultants and public relations experts like McKinsey & Company. The allegations of excess and about the brutality of his regime began to slip out. Then there was the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While stamping out dissent in the Saudi royal family by holding three hundred members in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for months, he continued to exhibit his extreme wealth, including the purchase of a $70 million chateau in Europe and one of the world's most expensive yachts. It seemed that he did not understand nor care about how the outside world would react to his flexing of autocratic muscle.

"This is as close to the truth, to the real story of the corruption, vulgarities, horrors, and lies of the Kingdom and its current despot as we are likely to get. It also can be read as a Shakespearean story of utter greed." - Seymour Hersh, author of Chain of Command

(P) 2020 Hachette Audio©2020 Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck

Critic reviews

Hope & Scheck confront us with the conundrum of a young man who is doing good by his Kingdom - brilliantly describing how the enigmatic Crown Prince is bringing progress to Arabia as we would see it in the West - while operating with a ruthlessness and absolutism that make the stomach curl. Blood and Oil is compelling reading. We are challenged and enthralled on every page.

Blood and Oil is the best book I've read about the Middle East. It gets deep into the most opaque place on earth, without a false note anywhere. Not to mention the book is a wonderfully readable page-turner, and indispensable if you want a glimpse of the future of Saudi Arabia and the world.

It will leave you with a deep and nuanced understanding of the Crown Prince's thinking and its implications for Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East

This is as close to the truth, to the real story of the corruption, vulgarities, horrors, and lies of the Kingdom and its current despot as we are likely to get. It also can be read as a Shakespearean story of utter greed.

Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck chronicle the truly incredible story of MBS's rise in the deep, multidimensional way that only experienced Wall Street Journal reporters can do. The book reads like a novel, but it also plays the critically important role of illuminating a real person who is going to shape our world in ways we would all be better for understanding.

Blood and Oil is a revelatory book that resonates with a stranger-than-fiction quality as the authors' analysis of the Crown Prince's brutishness, outlandishness, and reformer's mentality is as riveting as it is profound.

A gossipy account of the rise to power of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, offering detailed insights into his ascent and his business, family and political relationships

It is lively and well written, and it draws a sharp portrait of the man at its heart

If you've ever wondered what would happen if limitless money met limitless power, wonder no longer, it's all here. This book is by turns terrifying, disturbing and ghastly, but written with a light touch that forces you to keep reading

Blood and Oil really is a riveting page-turner, a descent into a nest of vipers, a chilling profile of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known by his initials MBS (Lara Marlowe)

A smooth read

It's an in-depth story of new Saudi Arabia after King Abdullah. Here you can decipher the mindset of MBN and the evolution in his vision, if there is any.

A Must Read !

This book is a gripping tale of our current times, a story unfolding under our noses. For readers from outside the middle east and Saudi Arabia, it pieces together important events that have happened in the last 5 years which have significant impact on a global scale. This is no butterfly effect. Rise of such a dictator in a country like SA at the same time as rise of strong men across the world including some strong democracies is a telling sign of problems and divisive issues which are reverberating through the world.

As we struggle to identify the real news from fake news on a daily basis , this book highlights the issues of "pretend progress" versus "actual progress". It helps understand the politics to further selfish agendas of the leaders and the price that is being paid at many levels.

It also highlights complicity of our leaders and businessmen to further their own agendas.

A must read to understand the madness of our world.

Living story worth reading

i really like the story. Is a different world where money are gain without work and merit. Is the kind of money that put in power people that dont understand the value and so the story is uniqe and worth reading.

Excellent journalism

A fascinating modern history that covers in depth a part of the world that is not much covered in western mainstream press. Highly recommend.

Easy and accessible read

Easy and accessible read for everyone even if you have next to no knowledge about Saudi Arabia. Intriguing and highly detailed account of the current Saudi crown prince’s rise to power. It gives not only the account and biographical events of one person but also wider understanding of Saudi Arabia and the surrounding region.