Review
`a very funny satire-cum-thriller'
--Sunday Telegraph Seven
--Sunday Telegraph Seven
FT
'Irreverent, imaginative and playful'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Guardian
Cadet life is entertainingly evoked, overflowing with japes, jerkoffs, hashish highs and liquored lows...
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Independent
`entertaining.... darkly comic.... Zia's limited intelligence and unlimited paranoia are portrayed with great glee....
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
A superb debut novel centred around the assassination of the Pakistani dictator General Zia.
New Statesman
`brassy, savvy, comic debut...concise, punchy story-telling...with an affable, laconic, breezy, believable protagonist'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Daily Mail
`zesty, highly inventive...Hanif is a gifted writer...His explosive finale is brilliantly constructed'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
TLS
`enjoyably satirical [...] witty and effective'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Daily Telegraph
`Mohammed Hanif's first novel is as grimly, intelligently comic as if written by an Asian Joseph Heller'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Observer
`exuberant and satirical: this is an angry comedy about Zia's brutal legacy to Pakistan'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
There is an ancient saying that when lovers fall out, a plane goes down. This is the story of one such plane. Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul Haq, go down on 17 August, 1988? Was it because of:
1.Mechanical failure
2.Human error
3.The CIA's impatience
4.A blind woman's curse
5.Generals not happy with their pension plans
6.The mango season
Or could it be your narrator, Ali Shigri?
Teasing, provocative, and very, very funny, Mohammed Hanif's debut novel takes one of the subcontinent's enduring mysteries and out if it spins a tale as rich and colourful as a beggar's dream.
About the Author
Mohammed Hanif was born in Okara, Pakistan, in 1965. He graduated from Pakistan Air Force Academy as Pilot Officer, but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism. He has written plays for the stage and BBC radio, and his film The Long Night has been shown at film festivals around the world. He is a graduate of UEA's creative writing programme. He is currently head of the BBC's Urdu Service and lives in London.
