Zanzibar . . . The name itself languid and conspiratorial was a kind of illusion. It seemed to speak of the hearts desire of that yearning for paradise which is itself a sign we are fallen - that we are in the dirty realm of history of actuality of fact. The year is 1998. Nick Karolides is a marine biologist working on coral reef protection off Zanzibar - the East African island of slaves sultans and spices that for centuries has signified both the exotic and the malevolent. On a trip to the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam he meets Miranda Powers an American who works in the US embassy there. Together they find themselves embroiled in a terrorist conspiracy one with which CIA veteran Jack Queller has an ancient connection. In Zanzibar the prize-winning author Giles Foden draws on current events in order to create a contemporary historical novel of dazzling virtuosity. Both an investigation of the idea of paradise and a powerfully dramatic political thriller it features Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network long before September 11 made them notorious.