Dick’s World War II reimagining The Man in the High Castle.” - The Onion's AV Club It echoes Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union or Steven Barnes’s Lion’s Blood, but more comparisons will be made to Philip K. “The alt-historical framework is in many ways the best and most entertaining part of the book, and you want it to expand beyond the mere 400 pages of The Mirage.” - Seattle Weekly More than half the fun here comes from discovering all of the intricately clever consequences Ruff derives from that simple premise.” - Details “Sci-fi/fantasy/post-cyberpunk cult author Matt Ruff imagines an alternate world in which Arabia becomes the earth’s dominant superpower and America is a dictator-led, fundamentalist backwater. Ruff dizzies and dazzles the reader with a fantastic-and fantastical-story.” - BookPage Wells and Graham Greene collide with The Arabian Nights and The Matrix. He is a world-class world builder who, perhaps better than any other writer, can create exotic, mysterious worlds and communicate their unique rules and consistent logics.” - The Stranger “Ruff embraces his twisty concept with an attention to detail that suggests many months, more likely years, of fervent research. “An unnerving but intriguing premise forms the backbone of Matt Ruff’s latest novel, The Mirage, one of the most daring 9/11-inspired novels to emerge after that horrific day - The Seattle Times “Like Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, the premise behind Ruff’s alternate-history novel is chilling.” - The New York Post “A unique and compelling read.” - The Associated Press As Mustafaand his colleagues venture deeper into theunsettling world of terrorism, politics, andespionage, they are confronted with questionswithout any rational answers, andthe terrifying possibility that their world isnot what it seems. And the headof the Senate Intelligence Committee-awar hero named Osama bin Laden-willstop at nothing to hide the truth. The gangster Saddam Hussein is conductinghis own investigation. The prisonerclaims that the world they are living in isa mirage-in the real world, America is asuperpower, and the Arab states are just acollection of 'backward third-world countries.'Other captured terrorists have beentelling the same story. Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Securityagent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogatesa captured suicide bomber. Arabianand Persian troops invade the EasternSeaboard and establish a Green Zone inWashington, D.C. The UnitedArab States declares a War on Terror. The fourthplane, believed to be bound for Mecca, isbrought down by its passengers. They fly two into theTigris & Euphrates World Trade Towersin Baghdad, and a third into the ArabDefense Ministry in Riyadh. : Christian fundamentalists hijackfour jetliners.

The Mirage by Matt Ruff