American Iraq War veteran Ellie Cooper is living in Beijing when a chance encounter with a Uighurβa member of a Chinese Muslim minorityβat the home of her sort-of boyfriend Lao Zhang turns her life upside down. Lao Zhang disappears, and suddenly multiple security organizations are hounding Ellie for information. They say the Uighur is a terrorist. Ellie doesnβt know whatβs going on, but she must decide whom to trust among the artists, dealers, collectors, and operatives claiming to be on her sideβin particular, a mysterious organization operating within a popular online role-playing game. As she tries to elude her pursuers, sheβs haunted by memories of Iraq. Is what she did and saw there at the root of the mess sheβs in now?
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