In this gripping imagining of the last hours of President Gaddafi, Khadra provides us with fascinating insight into the mind of one of the most complex and controversial figures of recent history.

A novel which imagines the last hours of President Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader who was killed in October 2011. As he hides out in his home town of Sirte with his closest advisors, hoping that a convoy will reach them to take them south, he reflects on his extraordinary life. Written under a pseudonym by former Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul.

'Compulsive, funny, powerfully emotional..sinuously intelligent. Khadra's perceptive and confident novel, translated from French by Julian Evans, is an unmissable entertainment' The Guardian

'Mesmerizing' The New Yorker

'In this closed-door drama, which reads almost like a piece of theatre, Yasmina Khadra gets inside the mind of a tyrant awaiting the fatal bullet' Le Point

'Packs a devastating punch' Shortlist

'Bold, often mischievous. A wonderfully entertaining read - as commanding and schizophrenic as the psychopath who 'speaks' its words' The Big Issue

'A skilled storyteller working at the height of his powers' Times Literary Supplement

'Like all the great storytellers of history, [Khadra] espouses the contradictions of his characters, who carry in themselves the entirety of the human condition' Le Point

'World-class' Rosie Goldsmith, The Independent

'Captivating and perversely delightful' The Wall Street Journal