“With the magic only the finest storytellers can summon, Peter Blauner has conjured a tale where epic reality—the making of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments—is woven into a story of adventure, suspense, mystery, love, sorrow, assassination plots, prison breaks, and deep appreciation for the movies. Ali Hassan is an unassuming hero who unspools his life story in an attempt to save his grandson from falling into a pit of fanatic extremism. You’ll meet real people and living history under Egypt’s baking sun as Ali careens from one danger to the next, a mid-century Thief of Baghdad who meets each setback with honest courage (and a sharp sense of humor). I found this impossible to put down. On rare occasions I read a book that reminds me of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place. This is such a book, an authentic tour de force, the kind you lay aside to read again.”──Stephen King
