Shake Off
Published on 20. January 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
978-1-84659-088-7 (ISBN)
Description
From surviving a massacre in Beirut to becoming a KGB-trained operative working undercover for the mysterious Abu Leila, Palestinian Michel's journey has been hard. Hooked on painkillers and posing as a student in London, Michel leads a secret double-life. In a clandestine world his rules about personal relationships are shattered when he falls for his fellow student Helen. When Michel takes possession of a package smuggled out of the Occupied Territories he finds his life spinning out of control. Abu Leila is assasinated and Michel finds himself alone and forced to go on the run. What is in the package that is so valuable to both the PLO and Mossad, and how will its contents determine Michel's future and unravel his past?
Reviews / Votes
'With this taut follow-up to his much-praised Sabra Zoo, Hiller recalls the cool detachment and compelling eye for the ordinary detail that characterised the early thrillers of Graham Greene.' Sholto Byrnes, Independent on Sunday Powerful and thought-provoking, this is a book that stays with the reader. Mr Hiller's Shake OffA" is hard to shake off. The Economist In its memorialising of the 1982 massacres, Hiller's fiction joins great Arabic novels such as Love in Exile (1995) by Bahaa Taher, Egyptian winner of the inaugural "Arabic Booker" prize in 2008, and Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun (1998). His own strengths are understated humour and an eye for irony. Maya Jaggi, The Guardian "Le Carre said we live in 'coded times,' and SHAKE OFF is a book that takes that idea to hypnotizing levels. A novel about identity and sadness and love, it is also a hellaciously entertaining chase thriller. But the achievement of the novel rests in its orphan main character; Michel is a great character, one of the finest heroes I've seen in the spy genre simply because he is like so many of us, desperately searching for who he is and where he came from. This is a novel that is as much about personhood as it is tradecraft, and it succeeds on both counts. My highest recommendation."Will Lavender, New York Times bestselling author of Obedience and DominanceMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Saqi Books
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 125 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
276 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84659-088-7 (9781846590887)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Mischa Hiller was born in England in 1962 and grew up in London, Dar es Salaam and Beirut. He is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, Sabra Zoo, described by the Guardian as 'a stunning, defiant debut'. Mischa won the 2009 European Independent Film Festival script competition for his adaptation of the book. He lives in Cambridge with his wife and children.