Chasing Shadows: A True Story of Drugs, War and the Secret World of International Crime

A compulsive true crime thriller about modern-day international drugs trafficking, terrorism and the mafia following an investigation driven by one DEA agent, Jack Kelly.

LONGLISTED FOR THE CRIME WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION 2024 ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

HIGHLY COMMENDED FOR BEST NEW AUTHOR AT THE 2024 TRUE CRIME AWARDS

JUDGES’ CITATION: ’A cleverly constructed account of three different characters representing different aspects of the ruthless and fierce drugs trade. Never a dull moment. A real page turner... This book is gripping and immerses you in the very real world of the characters.’

’Read this powerful book by Miles Johnson right now.’ - Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah

’McMafia for the new age’ Catherine Belton, author of Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then took on the West

’Compelling, visceral and highly readable’ Oliver Bullough, bestselling author of Moneyland

’As breathless, complex and on-the-edge suspenseful as the finest thriller fiction - but it’s all real, which makes it truly extraordinary’ Lee Child

’This astonishing and cinematic rollercoaster of a debut will bring Miles Johnson’s talent into the brilliant light. Delivered with trademark verve and precision, it achieves that rare and precious thing that is the goal of all great reporting: it reveals the world to itself’ Alex Perry, author of The Good Mothers

’Miles has used his extensive Italian contacts to get a fully-fleshed out story in the Mafia section; likewise with the Hezbollah characters. He has interviewed over 100 people for the book, including many hours with Jack Kelly, the DEA investigator and hero of the book, which gives us an intimate look at a man dedicated to catching bad guys at the expense of his personal life’ Dan McCrum, author of Money Men

Mafia capo Salvatore Pititto is in trouble. His wife is angry. His mistress is angry. And he is sweating in Calabria on the biggest cocaine deal of his career. Meanwhile in the US, veteran DEA agent Jack Kelly is on the trail of the dirty money funding dangerously powerful figures. One of them, Mustafa Badreddine, is a shadowy master bomb maker dispatched to Syria’s civil war for his final mission. Each man has devoted his whole life to an institution that will eventually turn on him.

Based on hundreds of interviews and wiretap evidence from five different countries, Chasing Shadows is a compulsive true-crime thriller that draws us into a secret world of greed, ambition and betrayal - exposing the dark side of globalisation.

Miles Johnson is an award-winning foreign correspondent for the Financial Times who specialises in covering organised crime and financial corruption across the world. In over a decade at the FT, he has held senior roles in London, and worked as a correspondent in New York, Madrid and Rome. In 2021 he was nominated for British Foreign Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards for his work covering the Italian Mafia.