This novel was written during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. Much has been reported and said about the situation, and this novel uses many of those opinions and theories, with the experiences of those involved mirroring actual events reported on the news, though often not on the mainstream outlets.
It is important to remember when reading this novel that it is just that—a novel. And though it shows the horrors and hardships many of these people have endured, it also shows how easily the generosity our Western societies have been raised to believe in, can be abused. To our own detriment.
And as time passes, and this crisis abates, as all do, it may be easy to dismiss the warnings that follow as the overactive imagination of a fiction author, and that would be fair.
Yet it may also simply mean that the security apparatus that we so often criticize, worked.
And we just never knew it.
Like the 69 terrorist attacks prevented on American soil since 9/11 as of this writing.
If we had let our guard down because nothing had happened for several years after that horrible attack, would we be as safe today? Would we feel as safe today?
Like the real life heroes those within this novel are modeled after, they never let their guard down.
And we are all safer for it.