The Poet Game

By Salar Abdoh

Book Overview

In the wake of the first World Trade Center bombing, New York City is the center of an intricate web of betrayals and double-crosses in the shadowy world of Muslim radicals. Sami Amir arrives in Brooklyn via Iran, and into a world of militants, arms suppliers, and spies. He is a counter-intelligence agent from a branch of the Iranian Ministry of Security. The son of an American mother, he has always stood apart from his fellow men. Now, because of his background, he is sent to New York to investigate rumored terrorist plots that are to culminate with further violence around Christmas and New Year's, two weeks away.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312209681
• ISBN13: 9780312209681
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Brilliance

You often read the back of a literary thriller and see that, yet once again, the author of the book has been compared to the great John Le Carre or even the greater Graham Greene. Usually I take such comparisons with a grain of salt. But being a fan of the genre, I cannot dismiss such comparisons and end up reading the works, often much to my disappointment. There was no disappointment with The POET GAME. This literary thriller pretty much shatters all the boundaries of the genre I have ever come across, and I've come across quite a few in my time. The simplicity of the language and ease with which the story moves is like a contrapuntal dance to a backdrop of terror and betrayal beyond anyone's imagination. The author, Salar Abdoh, knows the territory too well. I don't know if he's been there and done that or if he has access to sources few, if any, readers and even writers of this type of book have. If you want to know the psychology behind what just took place in America on September 11th of 2001 you'd better read this book. I've read many books by other writers who thought they were giving a portrayal of what the men on the other end of the war look like. Well, those authors often failed where Mr. Abdoh succeeds. The book is a tragedy in waiting. I don't want to give more away. I read the first page where the author was describing the different personality traits of various Middle Eastern operatives, and I thought: wow! this guy seems like he's come right out of the trenches of southern Lebanon or some place similar. He may or may not have, but the portrayal he gives is chilling, stupendously written and far above the inanities of your usual thriller with too much gadgetry and not enough psychology. If there is any shortcoming to the work it's that I would have liked the book to go on another hundred pages. I didn't want it to end. But end it did, on a note that well ... I don't want to give the story away.

The Poet Game . .

Sami Amir, the protagonist of The Poet Game, happens to be the man no one can pinpoint. He is as real as your complete lack of attention to anything else going on around your life while reading The Poet Game. The story of a spy who has been sent from the Middle East to counter the likelihood of terrorist plots by radical elements from back home is something that is especially poignant after the destruction of the World Trade Center. Abdoh, himself a writer from that part of the world, seems to know every detail of what he writes about. When I looked at the description at the back of the book, written two years before the crumbling of the Twin Towers, my heart almost stopped. Here are the first few lines of how the book is described by the publisher: IN THE WAKE OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING, NEW YORK CITY IS GROUND ZERO FOR AN INTRICATE WEB OF BETRAYALS AND DOUBLE CROSSES IN THE SHADOWY WORLD OF MUSLIM RADICALS. Needless to say, the story pulls you right in and grabs hold of you till the very last sentence..Abdoh's debut novel is laced with the melancholy of a world that no one dares to comfort. He races us through streets that we've all walked past, maybe even stopped to smoke a cigarette on a warm night. Only this time we try to capture everything -- the man walking behind us, the homeless couple sleeping on the bench, the world of shadows and imminent dangers. My senses were heightened and my eyes opened very wide when reading this work. Sami Amir is located to New York. He is stranded on the most populated, isolated island of the world. Furthermore, it is his first time in NYC. He is a spy born into Islam who happened to attend Catholic schools back home. Furthermore, Sami's Iranian blood is mixed with his mother's American blood. The book is an accomplishment by the highest of standards. To put it down, quickly becomes a game of Mission Impossible. I found myself willingly running after Sami everywhere he goes, wanting to cross his path so he can size me up, the way he does everything else. Abdoh offers up a mix of espionage and high literary prose, and he does this with sheer brilliance. He is an ambitious writer, make no mistake about it. I've read The Poet Game twice by now and realize that even knowing the plot does not make it one bit tedious. I enjoyed it eve more the second time around, staying behind the plotline, trying to catch my breath, trying not to lose sight of what I already know.

Intelligent, politically accurate, & cunningly crafted

The use of a character that could straddle two worlds was a brilliant idea by S. Abdoh. Although the Iranian and American political philosophies have been at odds for the last two decades, Sami Amir's character and the suspenseful plot of this novel created surprisingly plausible twist of events. A very enjoyable and politically insightful novel.

thoughtfull and intelligent thriller

In the Poet Game, Sami Amir is an Iranian spy caught between the powers-that-be in Iran, employees of the Libyan government, and United States intelligence services. Everywhere he turns he confronts liars. Though reviewers seem not to have noticed this, the "poet" of the title is a convenient metonym for "liar," as Abdoh spins out his own version of the old Platonic idea that all poets are liars. In this novel all liars are also in their own way poets. Along with "Hunting Down Amanda," "The Poet Game" is the most intelligent thriller to be published in years.

Can't wait to see what Abdoh comes up with next...

Had John Le Carre been born in the middle east and immigrated to America, this is who he'd be. Like one of the thugs from his book, Abdoh grips you by the neck right on page one and drags you (willingly!) through the seamy underbelly of a New York few of us know exists. With crisp prose and wicked ear for dialogue this first novel is an elegy to a young writer's untapped potential... the literary undertones make one hope he breaks from the genre with his next work.