Bill Gray, a famous reclusive novelist, emerges from his isolation when he becomes the key figure in an event staged to force the release of a poet hostage in Beirut. MAO II explores a world in which the novelist's power to influence the inner life of a culture now belongs to bomb-makers and gunmen.

"This novel's a beauty. DeLillo takes us on a breathtaking journey, beyond the official versions of our daily history, behind all easy assumptions about who we're supposed to be, with a vision as bold and a voice as eloquent and morally focused as any in American writing"
Thomas Pynchon

"MAO II is full of marvels, both in its imagery and its language"
John Banville , Irish Times

"MAO II is a work of fiction not merely astonishingly fitting for our times, but rich and rewarding for anyone wishing to understand them"
Sunday Times