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by Derek B. Miller
From the author of Norwegian by Night, a novel about two men on a misbegotten quest to save the girl they failed to save decades before.
1991. Near Checkpoint Zulu, one hundred miles from the Kuwaiti border, Thomas Benton meets Arwood Hobbes. Benton is a British journalist who reports from war zones in part to avoid his lackluster marriage and a daughter he loves but cannot connect with; Arwood is a midwestern American private who might be an insufferable ignoramus, or might be a genuine lunatic with a death wish - it's hard to tell. Desert Storm is over, peace has been declared, but as they argue about whether it makes sense to cross the nearest border in search of an ice cream, they become embroiled in a horrific attack in which a young local girl in a green dress is killed as they are trying to protect her. The two men walk away into their respective lives. But something has cracked for them both.
Twenty-two years later, in another place, in another war, they meet again and are offered an unlikely opportunity to redeem themselves when that same girl in green is found alive and in need of salvation. Or is she?
"Starred Review. A penetrating, poetic, and unexpectedly disarming book about the ageless conflict in the Middle East by a writer who has made that topic his specialty." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. This is an excellent depiction of the complicated Iraq-Syria situation, especially the desperate plight of refugees and the West's failure to provide peace or relief. Miller caps his stellar, electrifying story with a knockout ending." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. The Girl in Green is a worthy follow-up to Miller's fine debut, Norwegian by Night (2013), which also stars an aging vet forced to reinvent himself." - Booklist
"A provocative engagement with US foreign policy is matched to rich and multifaceted characterization." - The Independent (UK)
"A stunning contemporary thriller." - Thriller Books Journal (UK)
"Written with Miller's incisive wit, intelligence, compassion and authenticity, this is a novel from a writer fast becoming a master of his craft." - Evening Post (UK)
"Miller dives into the complex and confusing world of the Middle East with a depth of knowledge of the region and the forces at play that is obvious on every page. His writing is direct and powerful — it's impossible to read this without becoming angry and upset, but there is humor too, and just enough hope... Verdict: heart-thumping thriller." - Herald Sun (Australia)
"Thrillers using conflict in the Middle East as a backdrop aren't thin on the ground, but Derek B. Miller's The Girl in Green stands above most, both in literary ambition and the complexity of its engagement with the region's geopolitics." - The Age (Australia)
This information about The Girl in Green was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Derek B. Miller is a fellow at the Center for Communication and Social Change at the University of Massachusetts. His work focuses on building a systematic and rigorous process for the timely provision of culturally-specific security-building knowledge for agencies who are designing interventions to help communities in crises. He has a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Geneva, a D.E.S. from the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva, an MA in national security studies from Georgetown University, and is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. He has studied at St. Catherine's College and Linacre College, both at Oxford, as well as Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has a particular interest in cultural research into security and is dedicated to bridging what he sees as a gap between international relations theory and its actual practice.
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