Profile

David Benioff’s new novel is obviously the work of a screenwriter—and we don’t mean that in a pejorative way. The writer of The Kite Runner, The 25th Hour (movie and book), and Troy (just the script, not the epic poem) knows from a good hook, and the turns taken by his two bedraggled teen heroes—charged with finding a dozen eggs during the Siege of Leningrad—are as effective at reeling you in as his brilliant descriptions are at keeping you there. In the preface, he reveals that the whole amazing story is taken from his grandfather’s life. Tonight, maybe he'll let you in on the greatest trick of the novel (since we’re not giving it away). — Boris Kachka