Mohammed bin Salman. A monarch-to-be without scruples? Or a visionary seeking a path to global power? A social reformer determined to bring his country into the twenty-first century? Or just another brutal dictator? A leader on the road to greatness, or one destined to follow in the footsteps of Icarus? Veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent David Ottaway draws on more than a half-century of observation and reporting to shed light on these conundrums at the heart of any attempt to understand Saudi Arabia—and the man who is poised to rule the country for decades to come.