The Toronto Sun, February 8th (Review)
Former backpacker, lawyer and now screenwriter George Mastras has turned his extensive knowledge of the remote regions of the world into a dramatic and timely first novel. Set in the Himalayas and the mountains of Kashmir, it tells the story of an American backpacker called Nick Sunder who is accused by Pakistani police of murdering his girlfriend. With little money and a surrendered passport, Nick despairs of receiving justice and flees into Indian-occupied Kashmir. He ends up in a tiny village called Gilkanosh working as a volunteer aide in a rough-and-ready clinic run by a beautiful and dedicated young Muslim doctor, Aysha. But Islamic fundamentalist terror comes to Gilkanosh and threatens to tear the valley apart, as Indian forces and Muslim insurgents battle it out. A love story and an adventure story which is exciting and brilliantly told.
Yvonne Crittenden, The Toronto Sun (Feb. 8th)