Vulture

Greenwood debuts with a scathing satire of war journalism centered on an ambitious London freelancer who recklessly throws herself into covering the 2012 Gaza War. Fledgling writer Sara Byrne, 32, is sent to Gaza by the London Tribune to interview survivors of Israeli airstrikes with help from translator Nasser. Determined to live up to the example of her late father, a legendary reporter, she hopes to land an interview with a senior member of Hamas and presses Nasser for help. After he demurs, she turns to Fadi, the nephew of a top resistance commander, who agrees to take her inside the “terror tunnels” where much of the armored machinery and rocket ammo is kept, in exchange for $1,000. Against Nasser’s counsel yet blindly eager to prove to her critical mother back in London and her married boyfriend that she’s “conquering the bloody cradle of civilization with her understanding,” Sara pursues her quest with disastrous results. Greenwood, herself a former Jerusalem-based reporter, gives Sara just the right amount of cockiness and careless resolve to make her ambitions plausible, and despite keeping the focus on an outsider who’s at once cynical and naive, the novel provides an unflinching view of the conflict’s human toll. This striking protrait of hubris will keep readers glued to the page. Agent: Clare Conville, C&W Agency. (Aug.)