From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen-year-old boy is making his way to Germany and to safety. Codenamed “Firefly,” he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won’t live to pass on the information.
[A] remarkable comeback...his best book yet...bound to be in contention for 2018’s thriller awards....Full of poignant scenes and mesmeric action sequences, it may be the first novel to do justice to the phenomenon’s epic scale.
Alternates bravura passages and sludgy sequences that can leave readers feeling they’re forging through the same chapter over and over. It all comes together in the last 50 pages, which are distinguished by fine writing, rousing action, and an especially haunting confrontation with 'the results of pure evil.'
Not only feels unusually credible for a suspense thriller, but has a clear social purpose...there is both a sharp journalistic attention to detail and genuine anger at how we, as a society, have become inured to the almost unimaginable suffering of others...Readers are unlikely to finish Firefly feeling the warm glow of escapism that a less sophisticated thriller might provide, but it offers something more important: a glimpse into a terrifying and random world in which there are few happy endings.
