It showed up on my doorstep just yesterday and until I saw it, I had no idea it was even in the works (my fault for not hitting Matt Ruff's blog regularly). I assume the book was sent my way as I have enjoyed Matt's prior novels, especially BAD MONKEYS (reviewed at Bookslut in 2007) and SET THIS HOUSE IN ORDER (at my site in 2008). THE MIRAGE takes Matt in a whole new and incredibly daring direction. From his site:
November 9, 2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers in the desert.
The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. A Coalition of Arabian and Persian troops invades the Eastern Seaboard and establishes a Green Zone in Washington, D.C....
Now, several years later, the war in America is winding down. In Iraq, an Arab Homeland Security agent named Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage—in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of "backward third-world countries." A search of the bomber's apartment turns up a copy of the New York Times, dated September 12, 2001, that appears to support his claim.
This isn't an isolated incident. Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story, and other "artifacts" have been found. The president wants answers, but Mustafa and his team soon discover there are other interested parties. The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee—a war hero named Osama bin Laden—will stop at nothing to hide the truth about the mirage.
Oh, bring it on Matt Ruff - bring it on so we can all take another wild adventure ride with you. Writing like this never gets old, folks; never. It makes me so glad to have this reviewing gig - it's like the best sort of Christmas present.
