Review by Booklist Review
Over several years of humanitarian work in the Middle East, Levin developed a number of high-level contacts in that troubled region. As such, it made sense for a colleague to reach to him for help in locating a friend's son who had gone missing somewhere in the war zone in or around Syria. Despite having misgivings and doubts, Levin agrees to try to help, which leads him on a dangerous journey through complicated politics and treacherous environments. Levin's odyssey, which he recounts with frightening verisimilitude here, dealt with a case never noticed by either Western officialdom or media, but the likes of which have been a common occurrence during that region's ongoing strife. Unlike in fiction, Levin's true-life account does not promise a satisfying resolution to the story; in life, war seldom leaves room for happy endings. But whether facing tragedy through the horrors of war or through the randomness of real-life, it remains important to never give up. Levin's story is not an easy one to experience, but it is an important one.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Levin (Nothing But a Circus), a board member of the Liechtenstein Foundation for State Governance, delivers an uneven account of his efforts to find an American who'd disappeared in Syria. In 2014, a business associate asked Levin to look into the case of a young man (here identified by the alias Paul Blocher) who had set out for Aleppo with the intention of assisting a group of volunteer doctors. Fearing that his son had been kidnapped, Blocher's father decided to keep his name out of the press and work through private channels to resolve the situation. Levin, who had been involved in a project to mediate between warring factions in Syria and identify individuals for postwar leadership roles, agreed to make use of his contacts to locate Blocher. In his meandering account of the nearly three-week search, Blocher's plight sometimes recedes into the background, as when Levin recounts his intervention to save a cook's job after a boorish hotel guest demanded his firing. There are ample details about other cases of kidnapped Westerners in the Middle East and vivid profiles of regional power brokers, smugglers, and funders of terrorism, but Levin's reconstructed dialogue occasionally rings false and the discovery of Blocher's fate is somewhat anticlimactic. This would-be thriller disappoints. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Anecdotal account of an effort to find a missing young man in civil war--riven Syria. Levin, a lawyer and armed-conflict negotiator who has vast experience with the Middle East, delivers "a story about loss and sadness, about violence and death, about unspeakable cruelty and greed--the daily menu of Syria's devastating war." More than that, he reveals the complex grammar of quid pro quo that is required for any negotiation in the region. At stake was the son of an influential American, and tracking him down fell to Levin, who had been involved in a project to nurture young Syrians to take roles in a postwar government. Via that connection, he was often approached to help find missing persons with the assumption that he "might know someone who knew someone who knew someone who could help. The classic Levantine arrangement, in other words." Finding that chain of someones involved visits to several countries and encounters with a range of characters, from a smooth, charming interlocutor who was quite helpful to a variety of gangsters and strongmen. Levin didn't find the hoped-for answer to the question of the young man's disappearance, but he did help effect an unforeseen rescue that, one hopes, will one day change the shape of regional politics. Despite some unnecessary digressions--e.g., the author's story of his visit to a wealthy racist in the Virginia countryside, one with clear political clout himself, doesn't add to the primary narrative--every moment that features the fixer named Khalid is worth the price of admission. Although Khalid has plenty of shady connections with the rich and powerful on all sides of the region's rivalries, he also serves as one of the book's much-needed moral compasses: "I'm really sorry, Khalid. I have no choice," Levin protests of a meeting that conflicts with his schedule, to which Khalid replies, "we always have a choice." Though sometimes tangential, Levin's narrative ably depicts the complex interactions of Middle Eastern politics. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
