Tellulah Darling

Ruff’s first novel Fool on the Hill is one of my favourite all-time books while his Bad Monkeysis an acid trip of a read. (In a good way.) But I wasn’t sure how The Mirage would land. Well, he did a brilliant job. I love books featuring alternate histories or even just alternate cities. Ruff took the events and major players of 9/11 and created this mirror world version. It’s still the same events and the same major players yet he cleverly and chillingly re-interprets their role and positions in this world.

Our main character Mustafa al Baghdadi is a good cop trying to do the best he can in a post 11/9 world (Yes, you read that right.) He can’t figure out though, why sometimes he seems to suffer from a type of vertigo: a feeling like this world is not quite real. There are his feelings of camaraderie with total strangers and glimpses of a city with Baghdad’s familiar twin towers.

This political thriller is a fascinating look into this tragedy and absolutely part of the hook is seeing where these familiar figures, whether Arab or American, end up in this version. For all the fun of the high-concept, it was really the core characters that made this novel shine for me, because ultimately, it’s the story of people trying to make sense of a horrific event. Trying to understand hate and greed, struggling with oppression–be it religious, sexual, or gender-based, struggling with loss, and figuring out how to live in accordance with their faith and moral codes.

If you like The Man in the High Castle, you’ll really enjoy this.