One must descend deep into the well of the psyche, where the formative events of life lie hidden in the shaft of the past. And from down there, we must reach high if we want to understand what we mean when we say 'God' and discover the beast within us that tears its prey and is never satisfied with its bloody bites. Once, it is said in this harrowing novel, people went into the desert to find God, but they found nothing but the gaping void of their souls, and God was the gaping void of their souls. Shortly after September 11, 2001, a young man decides to surrender his identity to the drill of the mercenaries who gather in countless uniforms at the checkpoint. He will be the only one spared from death, unlike his childhood friend Jean-Do, unlike his military role model Conti, unlike those many others whose lives...