Martyr!
By Kaveh Akbar
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Nothing is as it seems. Cyrus’s mother was killed while attempting to escape Iran, and this motherless boy grew up with an emotionally absent father and no real direction in life. So as an adult, barely making a living in New York, when he connects with a dying artist and her gallery rep, Cyrus begins experiencing too many coincidences that take him back to his childhood. An interesting story with some twists and turns that make for a nice payoff at the end.