Written by one of France's most esteemed intellectuals and journalists, this investigation into the murder of Wall Street Journalcorrespondent Daniel Pearl asserts that Pearl was murdered not necessarily because he was an American or Jewish, as previously assumed, but because he had uncovered links between al-Qaida terrorists and the Pakistani government.

This gripping saga retraces Pearl's steps from India through Kandahar, Karachi, and the murky Islamic underground of a Pakistan draped in "an odor of the apocalypse." Told with great compassion for the heroic Pearl — whose widow and parents cooperated with and assisted the author — the story ultimately transcends the reporter's tragic ending with a ringing call to reexamine what Daniel Pearl died trying to uncover.

"A gripping synthesis of philosophy and reportage" The New York Times