About The Baghdad Shuffle
Josh Bates’s debut novel joins a crime thriller to the upheaval of Iraq in 2003. Marine Jim Wilde discovers a trail of illicit money as deposed Iraqi officials seek to move their fortunes abroad. The plot extends from Baghdad to Los Angeles and Baja, bringing intelligence operatives, criminals, and law enforcement into a dangerous contest.
War, Crime, and Competing Loyalties
The book offers readers a way to discuss how a thriller uses the disruption of war. Consider who can exploit uncertainty, how money changes relationships, and where personal motives meet institutional interests. The movement between locations also invites attention to the connections a story draws across borders.
Questions for Book Club Readers
What happens when a character’s role as a Marine intersects with the logic of a crime story? How does the narrative distribute knowledge between its characters and its reader? Which loyalties become most difficult to maintain? Discussing specific scenes can help distinguish the demands of suspense from the wider questions the setting raises.
Read the The Baghdad Shuffle Book Club reading guide.
