[1][4] He served as an interpreter with the U.S. military and now wants to enter Syria to fight with the Syrian Free Army against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

[1][4][5][6] As he spends time with Amir and Daphne, Haris starts to ask himself if he's committed to a free Syria or if he's searching to understand himself.

"[8] In a review in The New York Times, Lawrence Osborne wrote that Ackerman, "...created people who are not the equivalents of the locally exotic subjects in your average NPR story, and he has used them to populate a fascinating and topical novel.

"[1] Jennifer Bort Yacovissi, in another review, shared, "This is a tightly packed, nuanced narrative in which virtually every character introduced plays a pivotal role.

The story is told with economy and a sense of urgency…"[4] The Kirkus Review said that "Ackerman humanizes a war fraught with tragedy and seemingly without resolution.