Moth Smoke Book

A fast-paced first novel that paints a dazzling portrait of contemporary Pakistan

When Daru loses his job as a banker in Lahore, he begins a long fall from grace that cascades the length of this lively and inventive tale. Too clever for his own good, he descends into drug dealing, then heroin addiction. Unable to pay the electricity bill, he rapidly loses power, literally and metaphorically, in a society increasingly polarized between decadent haves and discontented have-nots. As Daru spirals downward, he is falling for beautiful, mysterious Mumtaz, the wife of his childhood friend and rival, Ozi. Privileged but restless, Mumtaz escapes the constraints of marriage and motherhood by prowling the city's depths as a journalist. Daru is drawn to her with an intensity that mimics the attraction of moths to candle flames in his darkened apartment. Desperate to reverse his fortunes, Daru takes a partner in crime, the rickshaw driver Murad, but when a heist goes awry, Daru finds himself on trial for a murder he may or may not have committed. The uncertainty of his future mirrors that of his country, which is locked in a jittery nuclear test-for-test with India, as the rich get richer and fundamentalist fervor intensifies. With its assured voice-in equal measure funny, ironic, and impassioned-highly original cast of characters, and sly satire, this debut novel is never less than riveting.

Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, Pakistan. He lives in New York City.