"Hiller recalls the cool detachment and compelling eye for the ordinary detail that characterised the early thrillers of Graham Greene."—Sholto Byrnes, The Independent on Sunday
"Hiller's fiction joins great Arabic novels such as Love in Exile by Bahaa Taher, Egyptian winner of the inaugural 'Arabic Booker' prize in 2008, and Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun . His own strengths are understated humour and an eye for irony."—Maya Jaggi, Guardian
"Powerful and thought-provoking, this is a book that stays with the reader. Mr. Hiller's Shake Off is hard to shake off.—The Economist
London 1989: Michel is an undercover PLO operative hooked on painkillers and posing as a student. He is tasked by mentor Abu Leila to find a venue for secret Palestinian–Israeli talks. But fellow student Helen, forbidden fruit in this clandestine world, is proving to be a distraction.
Michel is forced to go on the run when he takes possession of a package smuggled out of the Cccupied Territories and linked to an assassination in Berlin—a package that both the Israelis and the Palestinians are desperate to get hold of.
From the streets of London, Cambridge, and Berlin to the remotest areas of Scotland, Michel must use his KGB training and Helen's help to shake off his pursuers and stay one step ahead.
Mischa Hiller was born in England in 1962 and grew up in London, Dar es Salaam, and Beirut. His first novel, Sabra Zoo won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Europe and South Asia) in March 2011. He lives in Cambridge, England.
Industry Reviews
'With this taut follow-up to his much-praised Sabra Zoo, Hiller recalls the cool detachment and compelling eye for the ordinary detail that characterised the early thrillers of Graham Greene.' Sholto Byrnes, Independent on Sunday Powerful and thought-provoking, this is a book that stays with the reader. Mr Hiller's Shake OffA" is hard to shake off. The Economist In its memorialising of the 1982 massacres, Hiller's fiction joins great Arabic novels such as Love in Exile (1995) by Bahaa Taher, Egyptian winner of the inaugural "Arabic Booker" prize in 2008, and Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun (1998). His own strengths are understated humour and an eye for irony. Maya Jaggi, The Guardian "Le Carre said we live in 'coded times,' and SHAKE OFF is a book that takes that idea to hypnotizing levels. A novel about identity and sadness and love, it is also a hellaciously entertaining chase thriller. But the achievement of the novel rests in its orphan main character; Michel is a great character, one of the finest heroes I've seen in the spy genre simply because he is like so many of us, desperately searching for who he is and where he came from. This is a novel that is as much about personhood as it is tradecraft, and it succeeds on both counts. My highest recommendation."Will Lavender, New York Times bestselling author of Obedience and Dominance
