From the author of the award-winning Moth Smoke comes a perspective on love, prejudice, and the war on terror that has never been seen in North American literature.

At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with a suspicious, and possibly armed, American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting. . .

Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by Underwood Samson, an elite firm that specializes in the “valuation” of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with regal Erica promises entrée into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez’s meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and perhaps even love.

Elegant and compelling, Mohsin Hamid’s second novel is a devastating exploration of our divided and yet ultimately indivisible world.

“Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services as a bridge.”
—from The Reluctant Fundamentalist

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FINALIST 2007 - Man Booker Prize

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A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“[An] elegant and chilling little novel. . . . Hamid’s novel . . . is distinguished by its portrayal of Changez’s class aspirations and inner struggle. . . . [With] an Arabian Nights-style urgency . . . . The fundamentalist, and potential assassin, may be sitting on either side of the table.” —The New York Times

“[A] taut and absolutely absorbing second novel. . . . The Reluctant Fundamentalist is at least as much about the apparent unease felt by the listener — and reader — in hearing the story, as it is about the growing sense of cultural displacement described by Changez. . . . Hamid . . . makes it impossible for the reader to know for certain what danger actually lurks or whether the reader’s perceived sense of dread and underlying malice is nothing more than the product of an overactive, media-fed imagination.” —Toronto Star

“In his beautifully accomplished little volume, Hamid . . . succeeds at illustrating not only that Changez changes , but that much else changes too, following 9/11. . . . Hamid is sophisticated with symbols, and the relationship between Changez and Erica is especially affecting, in great part because of what it says about missed opportunities, misunderstanding and the growing rift between Judeo-Christian West and Muslim Middle East.” —The Globe and Mail

“An intelligent and absorbing 9/11 novel.” —Publishers Weekly
“A quietly told, cleverly constructed fable of infatuation and disenchantment with America. . . . It fosters the kind of concentratedly astute cultural observation at which Hamid excels. . . . An intelligent, highly engaging piece of work.”- Guardian
“Beautifully written and superbly constructed. It is more exciting than any thriller I've read for a long time, as well as being a subtle and elegant analysis of the state of our world today.” -- Philip Pullman
“A brilliant book. With spooky restraint and masterful control, Hamid unpicks the underpinnings of the most recent episode of distrust between East and West. The narrative is balanced by a love as powerful as the sinister forces gathering, even when it recedes into a phantom of hope.” -- Kiran Desai
“A superb cautionary tale, and a grim reminder of the continuing cost of ethnic profiling, miscommunication and confrontation.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“This novel’s firm, steady, even beautiful voice proclaims the completeness of the soul when personal and global issues are conjoined.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The novel succeeds in wrapping an exploration of the straining relationship between East and West in a gripping yarn, which remains tout until the final pages. . . . In the wake of 9/11, the international political landscape has become warped through mutual distrust and political hyperbole. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an elegant and sharp indictment of the colds of suspicion that now shroud our world.” —Observer

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Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and worked for several years as a management consultant in New York. His first novel, Moth Smoke, was published in ten languages and was a winner of a Betty Trask award, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His essays and journalism have appeared in Time, The New York Times and The Guardian, among others. Mohsin Hamid currently lives, works and writes in London.

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