Mona: a novel

When nothing else makes sense, the impossible is all that’s left to believe.

Eric Söderqvist, a professor of computer science at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, has invented Mind Surf, a pioneering thought-control system that allows people with disabilities to browse the web.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Samir Mustaf, a former MIT professor whose beloved daughter Mona was killed by a cluster bomb, has just finished creating the most sophisticated computer virus the world has ever seen, for the purpose of launching a devastating cyber attack on Israel’s financial system.

When Eric’s wife, Hanna, falls into a coma — after having tested her husband’s invention — the doctors are at a loss. Eric, guilt-stricken and distraught, fixes on the unthinkable, becoming convinced that his wife has been infected by a powerful computer virus, and that the only way he can save her life is by tracking down its creator.

What follows is a compelling and high-octane pursuit that spans the Middle East and Europe. Conceptually breathtaking and emotionally compelling, Mona is a story about the good — and the evil — that people are prepared to do in order to save or avenge the ones they love.