Moonlight Hotel - by Scott Anderson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

David Richards is a mid-level diplomat assigned to the sleepy, backwater Middle Eastern kingdom of Kutar in 1983. He spends his days on minor development projects and his nights seducing ambassador's wives. But when news of a tribal skirmish reaches the capital, Richards soon finds himself embroiled in a civil war as Colonel Munn, a pint-sized, blustery Texan assigned to Kutar, organizes a preemptive offensive against the rebellious forces. After Munn is immediately routed and the rebellion seizes control of the capitol, Richards holes up in the ramshackle Moonlight Hotel with fellow expatriates, determined to ride out the conflict despite the growing chaos and destruction that are heading towards them. This is a stunning and thrilling novel of war and survival from an acclaimed war correspondent.

Review Quotes

"A tour de force, variously satire, allegory, romance, [and] war novel. . . . Elegantly written, ferociously imagined." --The Washington Post Book World"Sharp and finely observed. . . . An extremely sophisticated and passionate description of the political nightmare visited on small countries by great and powerful nations." --The New York Times Book Review"Anderson captures the bitter poignancy of foreigners who embrace an exotic land and find their love, and their expectations, unreturned and disappointed." --Outside"Moonlight Hotel fascinates . . . training a cold, worldly, Greenian eye on the workings of bush league geopolitics. At its best, the novel verges on the blackest satire, but that never kept it from making you feel the tragedy."--Salon

About the Author

Scott Anderson is a veteran war correspondent, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, whose work also appears in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Harper's, Outside and many other publications. Over the years he has reported from Beirut, Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Israel, Sudan, Sarajevo, El Salvador and many other war-torn countries. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed novel Triage, as well as the nonfiction book The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny and, with his brother Jon Lee Anderson War Zones. A graduate of the Iowa Writer's School, Anderson lives in upstate New York with his wife, the filmmaker Nanette Burstein.