Sirens of Memory

May 15, 2021
Twenty years ago, Mariam narrowly escaped from occupied Kuwait and slammed the door on her past until an invitation to the Kuwaiti consulate's remembrance gathering forces her to confront her secrets. Using the identity of the late wife, Ritika, of her current husband, Raj, Mariam had posed as an Indian expat to flee Kuwait, leaving her life with her abusive first husband, Tareq, behind. Now, safely settled in Austin, Texas, Mariam still can't bring herself to tell Raj why she insists on remaining Ritika Ghosh. In what she hopes will be the first step toward confronting her past, she agrees to attend the anniversary event, never dreaming that a chance selfie will reveal her to Tareq, who has also found his way from Kuwait to the U.S. Obsessed, Tareq tracks her, dead set on killing Raj and taking back his wife. An absorbing, well-crafted choice for fans of global thrillers, Mariam's story is a dangerous journey to empowerment that shifts between harrowing flashbacks of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and her struggle to reclaim herself, even as Tareq's obsession looms.

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July 19, 2021
This predictable thriller from Guha (the Ahriman Legacy series) opens in 2015 Texas, where Ritika Ghosh dreams of a Kuwaiti woman named Mariam failing to flee her husband, Tareq. Upon waking, Ritika is traumatized by memories from 25 years earlier revived by that nightmare. Ritika is the alias of Kuwaiti Mariam Al-Salem, who in 1990 was horribly abused by Tareq. Amid the chaos of Iraq’s invasion that year, a pregnant Mariam succeeded in escaping from Tareq, who she believed died during the war. Her fear that she would be considered responsible for her persecutor’s demise and then her guilt have led her to keep her past—and the real identity of her daughter’s father—a secret from her current spouse. At an event in Washington, D.C., remembering the invasion’s 25th anniversary, Mariam sees Tareq, who has somehow survived. From there, the by-the-numbers plot eventually builds, without much tension, to a dramatic confrontation between Mariam and her abuser. Guha doesn’t make it easy to empathize with her thinly drawn lead. Fans of her spy novels will hope for a return to form next time.