Osama: A Novel [Paperback]

Brilliant. Crime, politics, thriller, science fiction...all covered. Great page turner, feels like you are reading something new...like nothing you have read before. Highly recommended.

This is not your standard crime noir novel. It is not a standard anything. Lavie Tidhar manages to deliver a book that doesn't just keep you thinking about it whilst you are reading but occupies your thoughts for a while afterwards. There are so many things happening on several levels that it takes a while to digest them all. I'm still not sure I fully understand it now. As cerebral as this story is it is thoroughly enjoyable and easy to read at the same time.

There is probably a rule somewhere that says you should avoid repetition of words. The word cigarette appears more times than I care to count. Rather than being a sign of poor writing it is a clue. Not one that is ever explicitly explained but the inference is there right at the end. This is the kind of thing that you will find throughout this book. It is certainly not the kind of book that explains itself every chapter.

On a simplistic level this is just a detective story. Joe has been tasked with finding Mike Longshott the author of a series of pulp fiction stories. These pulps portray Osama Bin Laden as a vigilante and leave the reader to decide whether he was a terrorist or a freedom fighter in an on-going war.

Joe finds himself crossing the world in search of Mike Longshott at the expense of his mysterious and beautiful client. The ease in which the author transports the reader to the various locations really brings the world to life. The use of opium to tie things together is very clever. Not just in the obvious sense of bringing things back to Afghanistan but you also have to think of the other reasons that opiates are important.

Overall this is a great read but one that you need to think about to really get the most out of it. It takes some chances and does some things that might not work in many books and works them in to a story of real substance (pun intended).

After being intrigued by the concept of this novel, I decided to dive into the vivid and strange world it creates. I was very glad that I did, as this is one of the most powerful and memorable books I have read in a long time.

The book is a mystery story, in the vein of a noir detective novel. But, very cleverly, there are no absolute answers. What might have been a huge twist is hinted at throughout, letting the reader come to their own conclusions rather than waiting until the end of the novel and then revealing everything.

By creating a world where acts of terrorism are unimaginable, and even in the form of the subject matter for pulp novels are seen as shocking and unacceptable, the book holds up a mirror to the reader. We live in a world where terrorism is a real and, ultimately, accepted part of life. The book forces you to think more deeply about terrorism and the effect it has on its victims and our modern society. Some passages from the 'Osama Bin Laden: Vigilante' books that feature in the story remind you just how horrific real acts of terrorism are. Passages on the experiences of those involved in the attacks moments before their death are so hauntingly powerful that, after reading them, I had to just sit, staring at nothing. In those moments, I reconsidered the way that - having come so used to news reports of bombings and attacks - I have quietly accepted terrorism as part of modern life without truly coming to terms with the sorrow and pain it causes. For a book to make you re-think how you view the world is truly an achievement, and by constructing a fictional world without terrorism Tidman has found an original and intriguing way of doing so.

I have to emphasise, however, that Tidman does not simply provide an attack against terrorists and the extremist Muslims most closely associated with it. Instead, the characters are trying to come to terms with why these acts of violence are happening. As they say numerous times, it is a war they - no one - understands. I think this is the ultimate truth of the book, the to most of us we accept both terrorism and anti-terrorism operations and wars without truly understanding what they are about. The victims of terrorism, therefore, are portrayed as refugees cut out from the world in the most violence fashion without understanding why, or even realising what is happening until their very final moments. In painting this portrait, 'Osama' defines modern warfare - and the military strategies of our own Western governments - and the role of unwitting civilians in it.