Fanatic

'Stylish, propulsive, and whip-smart.' KAMILA SHAMSIE In the age of outrage, who controls the story? A nuanced and tautly plotted crime thriller that skilfully deploys Sami's media and newsroom experience and his finely-honed storytelling skills to maximum effect. A brutal assault. An anonymous saviour. A nation desperate for a hero. When a queer teenager is savagely beaten in a Melbourne park, a hooded stranger steps from the shadows, saves his life, and vanishes. The media crowns the mystery rescuer a hero, but when it's revealed he spent time at a paramilitary madrasa in Karachi, the young man who captured Australia's imagination is recast as its newest threat. Tabloids, talkback radio and social media fuel a frenzy of fear and suspicion, and he must fight to reclaim the truth before it destroys him and his family. But others have their own story to tell. Disgraced journalists who will do anything to save their careers. A far-right network that turns outrage into a recruitment tool. And as Melbourne prepares for Eid celebrations, the countdown to catastrophe has already begun. Sharp, timely and impossible to put down, this is a gripping crime thriller about heroism, radicalisation and the devastating power of misinformation. When truth is the first casualty, anyone could be the next victim.