Book excerpt: Bassam and George are childhood best friends who have grown to adulthood in war-torn Beirut, Lebanon. Now they must choose their futures: to stay in the city and amass power by joining the corrupt militia; or to become exiles abroad, alienated from the only existence they have ever known. Bassam chooses one path: obsessed with leaving Beirut, he embarks on a series of petty crimes to finance his departure. Meanwhile, George builds his status in the militia-ruled underworld of the city, and embraces a life of killing, crime for profit, and drugs. Eventually and inevitably, the fates of the two friends collide. Told in the voice of Bassam, DE NIRO'S GAME is a beautiful, explosive portrait of contemporary young men shaped by a lifelong experience of war. Rawi Hage brilliantly fuses vivid, jump-cut cinematic action with the measured strength and beauty of Arabic poetry. His style mimics a world gone mad: so smooth and apparently sane that its sudden, razor-sharp dips into chaos and violence surprise and cut deeply. Here is an astonishing, brilliantly paced look at life and death in a war zone, and what comes after.