Charlie Johnson in the Flames - Tapa dura

Charlie Johnson is a veteran war correspondent who thinks he has seen it all - until he makes one rash expedition into a war zone in the Balkans. He watches helplessly as a woman who sheltered him is set on fire. From then on his life is consumed by the mission to find the man who did it - caught on film by his friend and cameraman Jacek.
Drawing on his own experience of war zones, in this disturbing, thoughtful novel Michael Ignatieff probes into the damage that blights Charlie's life and threatens to destroy his humanity, the result of years of numbing reporting of terrible events. Charlie has people who love him, not only his wife and daughter at home in London, but also generous, tough and resolute colleagues like Jacek and the indefatigable and beautiful Etta. But once he is set on his journey of revenge, nothing and no one can stop him.

Michael Ignatieff is the Carr Professor and Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.