An Iranian American returns home to help a friend and finds his life in danger: тАЬRemarkable┬а.┬а.┬а. a smart, eloquent novel.тАЭ тАФDalia Sofer, author of The Septembers of Shiraz
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The year is 2008. Reza MalekтАЩs life is modest but manageableтАФhe lives in a small apartment in Harlem, teaches at a local university, and is relieved to be far from the blood and turmoil of Iraq and Afghanistan, where he worked as a reporter, interpreter, and sometimes lover for a superstar journalist who has long since moved on to more remarkable men.
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But after a terse phone call from his best friend in Iran, Reza reluctantly returns to Tehran. Once there, he finds far more than he bargained for: the city is on the edge of revolution; his friend is embroiled with Shia militants; and his missing mother, who was alleged to have run off before the revolution, is alive and wellтАФwhile his own life is now in danger.
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Against a backdrop of corrupt clerics, shady fixers, political repression, and the ever-present threat of violence, this novel offers a telling glimpse into contemporary Tehran, and spins a riveting morality tale of identity and exile, the bonds of friendship, and the limits of loyalty.
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тАЬ[A] swift, hard-boiled novel┬а.┬а.┬а. Shadowy zealots exist everywhere, whether in conference rooms or interrogation rooms orтАФmost oftenтАФin rooms that can serve as both.тАЭ тАФTheNew York Times Book Review
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тАЬA gripping portrait of a nation awash in violence and crippled by corruption.тАЭ тАФPublishers Weekly
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тАЬA smart political thriller.тАЭ тАФLaila Lalami, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The MoorтАЩs Account
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тАЬGives readers a visceral sense of life in a country where repression is the norm┬а.┬а.┬а. Recommended for espionage aficionados and for readers who enjoy international settings.тАЭ тАФLibrary Journal
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тАЬA fascinating glimpse of contemporary Iran through the familiar story of childhood friends whose paths are beginning to diverge irreversibly.тАЭ тАФShelf Awareness