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A review by 2treads
Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Z. Hossain
dark
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Hossain has a certain gift for writing irreverent, morally-grey, dry-humoured, desperate, and razor-sharp characters with such clarity, that the reader is immediately gripped.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
The pace is quick and keeps you engaged; the characters are compelling, intense and dark, straddling a fence which can tip either way; the underlying tension of fault-lines at their limits has the reader anticipating the imminent eruption, collision, combustion that is sure to come at the conclusion.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
A reckless, precise, seemingly fearless black marketer, his brilliant, scared, loyal partner, along with their arrogant, entitled prisoner-not-prisoner but definitely top tier torturer, must navigate a Baghdad that is torn and marked by an ongoing war and insurgencies.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
With his distinct style of world building, Hossain brings to life a war-torn nation, filled with the dead, dying and barely living; the gangs, the terrorists, PTSD, drugs, guns, the disillusioned, the robbed, hopeless, vengeance-seeking, the survivors and the mystery of a timeless watch with mythic ties to a religious group now considered heretic.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
This all culminates as our trio race across Baghdad, on the hunt for fortune and freedom, dodging a revenge-seeking imam, secret police, a dubious antiques dealer, the US army; while being aided by a sage widow and her two mostly mute companions, a rescued library and a room of susurrating jars.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
I love the satire, the quips, the wit, the friendship, the conflicts, the denial and betrayal, the history, religiosity, science, practicality, danger and intrigue. My third foray into Hossain's work and I am a forever fan.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
The pace is quick and keeps you engaged; the characters are compelling, intense and dark, straddling a fence which can tip either way; the underlying tension of fault-lines at their limits has the reader anticipating the imminent eruption, collision, combustion that is sure to come at the conclusion.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
A reckless, precise, seemingly fearless black marketer, his brilliant, scared, loyal partner, along with their arrogant, entitled prisoner-not-prisoner but definitely top tier torturer, must navigate a Baghdad that is torn and marked by an ongoing war and insurgencies.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
With his distinct style of world building, Hossain brings to life a war-torn nation, filled with the dead, dying and barely living; the gangs, the terrorists, PTSD, drugs, guns, the disillusioned, the robbed, hopeless, vengeance-seeking, the survivors and the mystery of a timeless watch with mythic ties to a religious group now considered heretic.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
This all culminates as our trio race across Baghdad, on the hunt for fortune and freedom, dodging a revenge-seeking imam, secret police, a dubious antiques dealer, the US army; while being aided by a sage widow and her two mostly mute companions, a rescued library and a room of susurrating jars.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
I love the satire, the quips, the wit, the friendship, the conflicts, the denial and betrayal, the history, religiosity, science, practicality, danger and intrigue. My third foray into Hossain's work and I am a forever fan.
🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏🌏
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence