An exhausted, disillusioned aid worker is ready to retreat to an island in Greece with his wife, but some shadowy government types have other plans for him. He's blackmailed into becoming a spy, without really knowing how to do it or what exactly he's after. The strengths of this book include some memorable characters and a vivid sense of Jordan. Not so strong - the narrator (whose first person story alternates with third person scenes focused on a Muslim woman in Washington who is trying to figure out what her angry husband is up to) is sometimes annoying company; the motivations of the two major characters don't always feel quite strong enough for what they end up doing; and a certain imbalance between the thriller aspects of the plot and the much more down-to-earth and interesting treatment of Jordan and its Palestinian population. Fesperman is a fine writer, and this book is worth reading, even if (in my opinion) it's not his best.