Moth Smoke

A subtly audacious . . . prodigious descendant of hard-boiled lit and film noir. A steamy and often darkly amusing book about sex, drugs, and class warfare in postcolonial Asia- Village Voice -You know youre in trouble when you cant meet a womans eye, particularly if the woman happens to be your best friends wife. In Lahore, Daru Shezad is a junior banker with a hashish habit. When his old friend Ozi moves back to Pakistan, Daru wants to be happy for him. Ozi has everything: a beautiful wife and child, an expensive foreign education -- and a corrupt father who bankrolls his lavish lifestyle. As jealousy sets in, Darus life slowly unravels. He loses his job. Starts lacing his joints with heroin. Becomes involved with a criminally-minded rickshaw driver. And falls in love with Ozis lonely wife. But how low can Daru sink? Is he guilty of the crime he finds himself on trial for? A vivid portrait of contemporary young Pakistani life, where frustration and insecurity feed not only the snobbery, decadence and aspirations of the rich, but also the resentment of the poor- The Times A novel of remarkable wit, poise, profundity, and strangeness. A treat- Esquire Fast-paced, intelligent . . . pulls us, despite ourselves, into his spiralling wake- New Yorker