When Charlotte is kidnapped panic is only held at bay by a sardonic Inner Voice, which alternately consoles and condemns. When the Middle Eastern dictator Kassem questions the writer about why she had killed him off in her last book A Hero, he triggers a surreal month of captivity. While Kassem appears determined to explain every warlike action, Charlotte attempts to instill humanity in the dictator. Inner Voice's incredulity at such hubris provides much-needed comic relief in an increasingly tense situation, as the unbearable loneliness unleashes a storm of unexpected sexual fantasies and complex feelings.
