The fall of a man at the top. The quest for a freedom that money cannot buy.

Rashid Al-Falasi has everything a man could dream of in Dubai: power, respect and a pivotal role in the decade's most significant geopolitical deals. But since his wife's death eight years earlier, his life has been a glass structure?shiny but fragile.

The arrival of Julian Thorne, a man of unsettling courtesy, and the reappearance of a forgotten paternal legacy, the Kitab al-Ahd (The Book of the Contract), tear away the veil from his reality. Rashid realises that his meteoric rise was not due to talent alone, but to a spiritual debt incurred by his lineage.

Harassed by forces that manipulate coincidences and death, Rashid turns to Amara, an upright lawyer, to initiate an unprecedented legal proceeding: a trial against himself. To free himself from the Muhasabun, those architects of the shadows who demand payment in "reality", he will have to orchestrate his own public downfall.

The Abraham Protocol is a profound work on responsibility and memory. Hichem Karoui delivers a gripping "metaphysical noir", in which the terms of a merger contract become the verses of a struggle for the survival of the spirit. A fascinating exploration of modern Emirati culture confronted with its own demons and the relentless march of progress.

This novel will captivate readers of intellectual thrillers and those seeking literature that explores the boundaries between the visible and the invisible.

Why read this book?

• A unique setting: Immerse yourself in the opulence and secrets of Dubai.
• A hybrid thriller: A blend of legal thriller, political drama and dark fantasy.
• Masterful writing: Hichem Karoui meticulously dissects the human soul in the face of corruption.