This is the depth of suffering of the Syrian civil war

• Author: NEVILLE TELLER
• Published date: 27 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Levin is a Swiss-American lawyer, who received his legal education at the University of Zürich and Columbia University School of Law. He is on the board of the Liechtenstein Foundation for State Governance, a charity that transfers appropriate knowledge and know-how to nation-states to help them control their political, economic, and financial futures. He lectures on topics relating to financial literacy, economic reform, capital market development, and so on.

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All this may, of course, be a cover for much more exciting and dangerous work connected with the murky, underground industry of war, where corruption flourishes and everything is for sale, including arms, drugs, and even people. Indeed, Levin admits that despite this novel, or memoir, his wife and two children are "still left wondering what exactly it is that I do for a living. For that," he tells them, "I must continue to beg your indulgence."

Early on, Levin informs us that his work for the "foundation" (which he does not specify by name) involved mounting a project called "Bistar" back in 2011, when the Syrian conflict had just begun and the Arab Spring was at its height. Syrian President Bashar Assad was seeking to reestablish control over a disintegrating nation, and Project Bistar – with Assad's blessing – aimed at identifying next-generation potential leaders from across Syrian society through whom he could operate. But when Russia stormed into the Middle East on Assad's side, and he began winning back great swaths of the country, the idea of a negotiated settlement was dropped. Project Bistar folded, but Levin's deep involvement with Syrian affairs made him ideal to lead the search for Paul Blocher.

An old friend summoned Levin to a restaurant in Paris, told him that Paul Blocher was known to have entered Syria two months before, and had since vanished. His friend pleaded with Levin to discover what had happened to the young man. Levin knew from experience that all too often such searches entailed a long period of stress and ended in tragedy, so it was with many misgivings that he agreed to try.

The novel, or memoir, then recounts the...