• Fiction.

By Dahlia Sofer. Ecco, $24.95.

Grade: A-

Plot in a nutshell: Sofer, whose family escaped from Iran in 1982 when she was 10, offers a powerful, disturbing novel of a situation that, unfortunately, has played out countless times over the centuries.

Her central character, businessman Isaac Amin, is arrested and imprisoned by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1981. His only crime is that he is Jewish rather than Muslim and that, as a successful gem trader, he is wealthy. Yet his captors continue tortures and interrogations, attempting to prove he had ties with the deposed Shah and/or helped Zionist causes, even though he has led a quiet, secular life.

Sofer skillfully balances the grim intensity of Isaac's prison days, where he watches daily brutalities inflicted on fellow prisoners, with chapters devoted to the effects of his imprisonment on his family. His sheltered wife, Farnaz, struggles against depression as she watches once-loyal employees arrogantly raiding Isaac's office of anything of value and also endures the increasingly arrogant attitude of their housekeeper.

Nine-year-old Shirin, thinking she is saving lives, steals files from the home of a playmate whose father heads the prison where Isaac is held. Her fear and guilt lead to illness.

Parviz, an architectural student in Brooklyn, struggles to cope without the family money and with his own feelings of loneliness and alienation.

As the story unfolds, we see senseless destruction of innocent lives and even entire societies when extremist ideologies achieve power. Yet, although our sympathies lie with Isaac and his family, Sofer indicates they are not totally blameless. As part of the privileged few under the Shah's regime, they had enjoyed the benefits of wealth while often being oblivious to those less fortunate.

Sample of prose: "What jars him out of sleep is not the sound of the bullet itself, but the thump of the body falling to the ground a second later. Afterward there is always silence. He wonders what they do with the bodies . . . perhaps pick them up next morning, like dishes after a dinner party."

Pros: The story features a carefully crafted plot with telling details that plunge readers into the scene while revealing larger brutalities, as well as the small secrets of the heart.

Cons: Somewhat stilted dialogue lends a shadowy quality to secondary characters.

Final word: A powerful, timely book.