If Chucky Taylor’s extraordinary and disturbing story was to be presented as fiction, critics might struggle to suspend their disbelief. However, Johnny Dywer’s investigative journalism sheds light on a recent history that is all-too-real; how a teenage boy, born and raised in an anonymous Orlando suburb, went on to commit a string of atrocities against the people of Liberia. American Warlord begins with the rise of Liberia’s brutal dictator, Charles Taylor, and covers the time he spent in the USA, where he impregnated the woman who would give birth to his son, Chucky. Dwyer spent five years researching this project, traveling to Liberia, interviewing US officials, and even getting in contact with Chucky himself (now in an American prison). A meticulous and insightful writer, the breadth of Dwyer's efforts show on every page.