Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Z. Hossain (Unnamed Press)

Saad Z. Hossain is a Bangladeshi author who writes in English and lives in Dakka, Bangladesh. Escape from Baghdad is his first novel and was published in 2015 by Unnamed Press in the United States. Judging the book from its cover and its title, you may be led to believe it is a military adventure set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq and you would be partially right. It is much more than just a war-time novel. 

Set during the occupation of Iraq when it was ruled by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the transitional government set up after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and headed by the United States Government, the story focuses on two regular guys who were from Baghdad. 

Dagr and Kinza have lost everything to the war. They survive by their wits and dealing in black market goods. Dagr was a former university professor who taught economics while Kinza was and still is a streetsmart hoodlum. Their latest piece of contraband isn’t something but someone. They have with them Captain Hamid, a man known as the star torturer for Saddam Hussein’s recently toppled Ba’athist regime. 

Captain Hamid has promised them a hoard of wealth if they can smuggle him to the city of Mosul. With the help of an American marine named Private Hoffman, they agree to help him escape the authorities. But it isn’t only the Americans who want Captain Hamid, and getting out of Baghdad is not going to be an easy task. 

As the three were trying to escape the confines of Baghdad, Kinza had also killed a man who happened to be the younger brother of an imam named Hassan Salemi. A devout Shi’a muslim whose “obsession for vengeance had overtaken his mind”. 

While Kinza, Dagr, Hamid are being pursued by Salemi and his men, the trio had made a deal with another group of men to help them pursue a possible serial killer at large. A man presumed to be a member of the Druze. They have also come into the possession of an ancient watch that also belonged to the Druze but doesn’t seem to tell the time but which may hold the secret to eternal life. 

Who are the Druze? The Chrstian had their Knights Templars. The Catholic Church had the Illuminati, and even the Jewish faith had their Kabbalists. In the glossary provided at the end of the book, Hossain informs the reader that the Druze were a “secretive ancient sect of mystic within Islam who follow a number of esoteric beliefs that are known only to their sworn elders”. 

Hossain has created one of the most interesting and intriguing stories that blends the adventure and thrill of a Tom Clancy novel, the dark humor and absurdity of war a la Catch-22 and throws in a good measure of science-fiction and fantasy. It is a fast-paced and action-packed smorgasbord that will keep you riveted to your seat as you wonder if the three protagonists will reach their goal of leaving Baghdad and do they find the secret to immortality? ~Ernie Hoyt