The Contractor
“An impressive and moving portrayal of the secret detention and interrogation system from the perspective of an interrogator. By illustrating the systematic dehumanization of both prisoners and interrogators inherent in this system, the novel demands engagement by its readers in the most important moral dilemmas facing the United States in the ‘War on Terror.’”
Margaret Satterthwaite, director of The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law
George Young is a devoted family man and a Gulf War veteran. After a hometown business venture flops, George accepts work overseas as a contracted civilian interrogator for the US government at Omega, a secret holding facility for suspected terrorists.
The work pays well, but his personal life is crumbling. His wife, with whom he is forbidden to talk about his work, is becoming more and more enamored of gin and tonic. Worse, during a “routine” interrogation, a detainee dies in George’s hands. Frightened and confused, the detainee repeatedly asks, “Who are you?” just before dying. These words echo throughout the novel and send George on a painful journey of self-interrogation and discovery. In order to defend his country and his family, must George betray his humanity?
Praise