Into the Sun

Into the Sun
Fiction

Into the Sun

"Ferociously intelligent and intensely gripping." —PHIL KLAY
Share this title 

When a car explodes in a crowded part of Kabul ten years after 9/11, a Japanese-American journalist is shocked to discover that the passengers were acquaintances—three fellow ex-pats who had formed an unlikely love triangle.

Alexandra was a human rights lawyer for imprisoned Afghan women. Justin was a born-again Christian who taught at a local school. Clay was an ex-soldier who worked as a private contractor. The car’s driver, Idris, was one of Justin’s most promising pupils—and he is missing. Drawn to the secrets of these strangers, and increasingly convinced the events that led to the fatal explosion weren’t random, the journalist follows a trail that leads from Afghanistan to Louisiana, Maine, Québec, and Dubai. In the process, the tortured narratives of these individuals become inseparable from the story of America’s imperial misadventures.

In this monumental novel, Deni Ellis Béchard draws an unsentimental portrait of those who flock to warzones, indelibly capturing these journalists, mercenaries, idealists, and aid workers. Béchard vividly brings to life the city of Kabul as well, along with the people who live there: the hungry, determined, and resourceful locals who are just as willing as their occupiers to reinvent themselves to survive.

Keywords: 
adventure, afghan war, afghanistan, aid workers, american imperialism, born again christian, danger, deception, double crosses, dubai, ex soldier, expatriots, explosion, human rights lawyer, idealists, ideals, imprisoned women, intrigue, japanese american, journalist, kabul, literary fiction, literary thriller, locals, louisiana, love triangle, maine, mercenaries, military, money, occupiers, political thriller, politics, private contractor, psychological, purpose, quebec, redemption, reporters, secrets, survival, transformation, war
ISBN:
9781571311146
Publish Date: 
09/06/2016
Pages: 
464
Size: 
5.25 × 8 × 1 in
Weight: 
16.8 oz
Author
Deni Bechard

Deni Ellis Béchard is the author of seven previous books. His fiction includes Vandal Love, winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize, Into the Sun, White, and, most recently, A Song from Faraway. He is also the author of Cures for Hunger, a memoir about growing up with a father who robbed banks, and Of Bonobos and Men, which won the 2015 Nautilus Book Award for investigative journalism. 

Praise and Prizes

Blog Post