Hanif’s prickly new novel confirms his standing as one of south Asia’s most unnervingly funny and subversive voices ... Smart, taut and electrifying, the tale fuses slapstick and the fun of a cat-and-mouse thriller with the serious reckoning work of a state-of-the-nation novel.
Hanif's cleverly plotted fourth novel opens in 1979 at the inauspicious moment Pakistan's former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is executed on the orders of the military. ... A wildly entertaining drama brimming with opportunists.
Farcical and nightmarish ... The conclusion is somewhat abrupt, but Hanif strikes a successful balance between the darkly humorous and the deadly serious ... An unsparing view into human depravity.
