"Escaping the Hezbollah" by Pola Muzyka

A sticker across this book deems it the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year, and, after a few chapters, it is clear why. It is the story of an American Iranian Christian smuggled into the Hezbollah Muslim extremist terrorist group. Faced with decrepit conditions and those of a different faith, he struggles. God keeps him alive while his mind lingers back to the woman he loves--his princess, as he likes to think of her. The story is tiredly predictable. Readers know he will escape and be reunited with his love. The magic lies in the storytelling, the richness of the characters, and the unabashed historical candor with which the author uses that makes the reader keep turning the pages.