Timothy Jay Smith
Leapfrog Press
24 September 2024
259
eBook - PDF
LGBT Fiction
ARC from Author
In this coming-of-age literary thriller, Ahdaf, a gay Syrian refugee, after watching his cousin executed by ISIS for being homosexual, flees to Istanbul for safety.
He becomes a smuggler of refugees to Greece and develops such a good reputation that he’s approached by both the CIA and ISIS to smuggle high-profile individuals in both directions between Turkey and Greece.
In the process of juggling their two operations, he falls in love with, and must decide between, two men who offer different futures.
Istanbul Crossing is a book that deals with a lot of difficult themes from terrorism to refugees to homophobia and persecution. Given the heavy nature of some of these topics, it is at times a dark story with plenty of anguish, yet there are also rays of hope as Ahdaf also meets people who care for him and help him along the way. Overall, the pacing of the tale was good with a nice blend of action and emotion. Ahdaf was definitely a character I was willing to get behind from start to finish. As the blurb suggests, there is a romance element to this book, though it's not the principal focus of the tale. That for me was where things fell down just a little, as Ahdaf had two men to choose between, yet I didn't feel, after knowing each only a handful of days, he would really make a life-changing decision based on either of them. It was the only part of the story where I found it hard to accept his thought-processes and actions. But, that is a very minor niggle in an otherwise very engaging story that spins a good yarn while also highlighting important topics. I am giving it four stars.
I received this book as a free review copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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