PURELAND

Said’s debut thriller is the life story of a noted physicist—told by the assassin who killed him.

A man called the Scimitar, the Sword of the Caliphate, will soon be executed for the murder of Salim Agha. Speaking to an unidentified person, Scimitar talks about Salim, starting from his 1950 birth in the country of Pureland. As a young boy, Salim’s intelligence impresses the nation’s king, Gen. Zafar Khan, and the boy leaves his small village to live in the city with the general. Salim is a servant but now has access to a good education. Sadly, other members of Khan’s staff, as well as fellow students at a local school, treat him cruelly, discriminating against him for his brown skin. It’s in America that Salim’s life finally seems to change for the better; he earns a Ph.D. in physics and wins wide acclaim for his research. But there are those back in Pureland, which is besieged by civil unrest, who, oddly, view Salim as a “villain” who’s somehow shamed his homeland. His enemies overseas send the Scimitar, who, as the narrator, wants to convey the reasoning behind the collective call for Salim’s head. Notwithstanding this story’s bleak content, Said’s prose is crisp and often witty: “During those years, he accumulated scars that stained his shins, like permanent post-it notes reminding him of that time.” But when the narrative steps into somber territory, it’s daunting. Salim, for one, suffers all sorts of vicious punishment, most of it physical. There’s also considerable suspense; the unfolding story is a ticking clock, as readers don’t know exactly when Salim will die, and his killer remains unknown until the end. While Salim is certainly sympathetic, Said manages to generate sympathy for the assassin as well—someone who, like Salim, may have no control over circumstances.

Thoroughly engrossing; a mysterious portrait of a murderer and his target.