The Net — Sherif Hetata

This subtle novel by one of Egypt's increasingly eminent writers concerns Egyptian society under the Sadat regime. Khalil Mansour, an intellectual once imprisoned for political activism and now seeking to withdraw, is reluctantly involved in a strike by workers who are opposing the takeover of their company by a Western multinational. He and the strike leaders are fired, and Khalil - now demoralized - becomes obsessed with a young American woman for who he leaves his self-reliant wife and baby son. Powerless against political corruption, the secret policy, the CIA, self-seeking cynicism and sycophancy in high places - The Net closing around him - Khalil becomes the victim of political expediency, condemned to die for a murder he did not commit. A searing commentary on the moral changes wrought by the Sadat era on Egyptian society.