Through a brilliant array of voices and perspectives, author Mohsin Hamid tells the story of one love-struck Daru Shezad who, when fired from his banking job, instantly removes himself from the ranks of Pakistan's cell-phone-toting elite and plunges into a life of drugs and crime. But when a heist goes awry, Daru finds himself on trial for a murder he may or may not have committed. His uncertain fate mirrors that of Pakistan itself, animated by nuclear weapons and sapped by corruption.

Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and worked for several years as a management consultant in New York. His first novel, Moth Smoke, was published in ten languages and was a winner of a Betty Trask award, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.