On a bright, busy morning in Cairo

A roaring sound fills the city square as the big mosque and the main cathedral are engulfed in dust and smoke, throwing the population into panic. When the air and the debris are cleared, an odd realization emerges: only the ornamentation on the houses of worship has been destroyed. Although members of each religion are quick to believe that the other was responsible for the violent destruction, in fact neither group is to blame. Determined to find out who is behind the incident, a colonel from the National Security Department begins an investigation that leads him to unexpected places, not only within Egyptian culture but within himself.

In this richly layered novel

Rifts between Islam and Christianity, and between Anglican and Coptic Christianity, divide young couples in love, families, and communities. Parents struggle to explain differences to their children, priests to parishioners, and lovers to each other in heartfelt conversations. Meanwhile, symbols and messages further deepen the intrigue behind the violence, and accounts of a large online community and its leader start to surface.

Is it possible—or even desirable—for people to get along peacefully with each other

Despite differences in how we approach God? As clashes between cultures and religions threaten to destroy us, the colonel's quest to solve the crime becomes not only about the debris in the heart of Cairo, but one of the central questions of our time.