Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Intrigue and subterfuge combine with misstep and luck in this darkly comic debut about love, betrayal, tyranny, family, and a conspiracy trying its damnedest to happen. Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father's mysterious death, which was called a suicide by the government. Ali's target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, the Pakistani dictator. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his colognebathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets an elaborate plan in motion. There's only one problem: the line of would-be assassins out for Zia is longer than he could have possibly known.