I'm Not Muhammad: An Ordinary Rendition

This strong, well-developed first novel charts the plight of an Arab-American conflicted about his identity well before the government harassment of the post-9/11 world. Born in Montreal, Yusuf Alsawari moves to New York and marries Ruth, a Christian woman who converts to Islam. But then Ruth announces that she has "accepted Christ as my personal savior." Three years later, the terrorist attacks of September 11 push the already-angry Yusuf to change his name to Muhammad, shave his head, get a new passport and bank account, and move to Seattle. His movements are tracked covertly by the U.S. government, and he is snatched from the streets and shipped to a jail cell in Cairo, where he is tortured into revealing his true identity. While Trask does a skillful job capturing Yusuf's change of identity, the character's motivations are not always clear and at times obscure the plot. Nonetheless, Trask does a workmanlike job of portraying the harrowing descent into hell of a man falsely accused.