I Was Nearly a Jihadi Bride

Previously published as 'In the Skin of a Jihadist'. Twenty-year-old Melodie, a recent convert to Islam, meets the leader of an ISIS brigade on Facebook. In 48 hours, he has fallen in love with her, calls her every hour, urges her to marry him, join him in Syria in a life of paradise—and join his jihad. Anna Erelle is the undercover journalist behind Melodie. Created to investigate the powerful propaganda weapons of Islamic State, Melodie is soon sucked in by Bilel, the right-hand man of the infamous Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. An Iraqi for whose capture the US government has promised $10 million, al-Baghdadi is described by Time Magazine as the most dangerous man in the world and by himself as the caliph of Islamic State. Bilel shows off his jeep, his guns, his expensive watch. He boasts about the people he has just killed. With Bilel impatient for his future wife, Melodie embarks on her highly dangerous mission, which at its ultimate stage will go very wrong. Enticed into this lethal online world like hundreds of other young people, including many young British girls and boys, Erelle's harrowing and gripping investigation helps us understand the true face of terrorism.