In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker
shields his clients--dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched
groups--from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by
Alif--the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle
to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a
prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by
the state's electronic security force, putting his clients and his own
neck on the line.
Then it turns out his lover's new fiancé is the "Hand of God," as they
call the head of state security, and his henchmen come after Alif,
driving him underground. When Alif discovers The Thousand and One
Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect
may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised
and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and
unseen.