THE BOOK OF SAFTEY BY. Yasser Abdel Hafez TRANS.Robin Moger

Khaled transcribes testimonies at the Palace of Confessions, a shadowy state-run agency situated in a respectable Cairo suburb. There he encounters Mustafa Ismail: a university professor turned master thief, who breaks into the homes of the great and the good and then blackmails them into silence.

Mustafa has dedicated his existence to the perfection of his trade and authored The Book of Safety, the ultimate guide to successful thievery.

With cool and incisive prose, Yasser Abdel Hafez follows Khaled into obsession with this mysterious book and its author.

REVIEWS

"Thoroughly Orwellian in his treatment of dystopian, dysfunctional and downright dangerous politics, Yasser Abdel Hafez underpins the darker, more disturbing themes with a superbly clear-headed philosophical understanding and delivers the narrative with all the grip and tension of a bestselling crime novelist."—Paul Blezard, Banipal

"Moger’s skill is indisputable. He captures all the vibrancy and nuance of the original Arabic, never sacrificing the flow of the text."—Sci Sarhan, The Arab Weekly

"With cool and incisive prose, Yasser Abdel Hafez follows Khaled into obsession with this mysterious book and its author."—Marcia Lynx Qualey, Arabic Literature (in English) Blog

"Dystopic–philosophical crime–writing."—Global Literature in Libraries Initiative

"Orwellian."—Manal Shakir, Arab News