Hunting in America

Hakimi sets her sights on cultural dislocation and American gun culture in her provocative English-language debut, which follows an Israeli woman who moves to the U.S. for work. The unnamed narrator, a project manager for a multinational corporation, agrees to accompany coworker David, an older married American man, on hunting expeditions. It’s been 20 years since she fired a weapon during her time in the Israeli Defense Force, but she’s a quick study, and her relationship with hunting, and with her coworker, intensifies. The novel covers roughly one year, between the first time she goes “shooting in America,” and the last. The narrator struggles to adapt to American business etiquette, especially as one of the few female executives in her company, which is undergoing organizational upheaval. The hunting trips become a source of both comfort and unease for her, given Americans’ obsession with guns and the ever-present possibility of disaster. Her one human connection is David, a slightly sinister and enigmatic figure who’s traumatized by a family tragedy that, naturally, involved guns. Told differently, the novel could be a classic noir, but Hakimi keeps the reader on their toes with the narrative’s disarming obliqueness and ambiguity, all the way to the final crack of a gunshot. This tantalizes. Agent: Geula Geurts, Deborah Harris Agency. (July)