A Punjabi American lawyer at a mysterious federal intelligence agency fights to keep his career, marriage, and morality intact in this post-9/11 drama.
Intriguing ... Coolly precise prose that sneaks nimbly around the periphery of its characters’ darkest thoughts and actions ... [An] accomplished debut ... Grewal-Kök’s icily clean prose is one of the novel’s greatest strengths, yet also its most off-putting feature. While delivering the necessary chill with such precision, at times he holds us at arm’s length from his characters.
Some readers may find... a subplot that sits uncomfortably in the narrative ... Grewal-Kök’s wrenching first novel eventually morphs into Kafka redux: there’s no way out, no redemption. It features a startling ending.
A terrific debut that finds new dimensions in the intelligence thriller ... The tension never lets up in Grewal-Kök’s gripping first novel, which exposes a system that will always compromise its moral code. Neel, who has lived his life coping with his feelings of “otherness” by diminishing his commitment to family and friends, discovers his own moral code too late.
