Narrator/X

The story's protagonist is an New York attorney who, just after 2011, finds himself wanting to distance himself from not only his current job, but also his former girlfriend and his country. When a job opening shows up in Dubai, he accepts it without question. In not too short an order he realizes that he should have asked questions, and lots of them.

X is an observer of human nature, which, as an attorney has stood him in good stead. However, his inability to connect on a 'real' level with any other human being, especially his ex-girlfriend, Jenn, lies at the core of his dysfunction. In fact, the reader goes through the entire novel only learning bits and pieces about X, never knowing what his real name is, learning that he was brought up by a Swiss mother who spoke French to him, that he had some friends...