Review: 'The Secret Gate,' by Mitchell Zuckoff

The latest book of narrative nonfiction by bestselling author Mitchell Zuckoff, "The Secret Gate" centers on the final days of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, as the capital of Kabul is seized by the Taliban and Americans frantically try to exit the country.

Zuckoff, a journalism professor at Boston University and former Boston Globe reporter, takes us there through two people: American diplomat Sam Aronson, who volunteers to help with the evacuation, and Homeira Qaderi, an Afghan writer and outspoken critic of the Taliban. Her memoir is daringly titled "Dancing in the Mosque," one of many reasons she's a likely target.

Qaderi doesn't want to leave Kabul-jan, as she calls her "dear Kabul," but the divorced mother who won a "bruising court fight" to get custody of her 8-year-old son, Siawash, has to consider their future under a restrictive Taliban rule. The narrative flips between Aronson's grueling work at Kabul Airport and Qaderi's deliberations about whether to stay or go.

Zuckoff draws on documents, text messages, Aronson's lengthy journal and hours of recorded interviews with Qaderi, who — while fluent in English — spoke in her native Farsi so she could "express herself more confidently." But because translation rarely captures every nuance, Qaderi's sections read more disjointedly, sometimes with seemingly random observations of her daily life.

More fluid is Aronson's gripping narrative, with detailed descriptions from the MREs he wolfed down to keep up his energy, to his system of tracking people he rescued through Glory Gate — the secret back entrance of the title — by writing code names for them on his arm with a Sharpie.

The book even has the elusive Minnesota connection: Qaderi's literary agent, Marly Rusoff, graduated from the University of Minnesota and opened a small bookstore near campus after college. The seven-degrees-of-separation gets even better: Rusoff reaches out to an old college boyfriend — Minneapolis attorney and former U.S. Ambassador to Norway Samuel Heins — who sends an email to a State Department contact that eventually reaches Aronson. In it, she pleads for Qaderi's evacuation: "Homeira may be killed if she does not get out of Afghanistan soon."

Qaderi has to make the painful decision to leave behind most of her family and belongings. Her most prized possession is her laptop, containing unfinished stories — can't every writer relate? — and her anguish at being told she can't bring any "large electronics" helps illustrate the agony of walking away from everything.

It's Aronson, in fact, who delivers that message, in a less-than-heartwarming initial interaction between the two. But that's reality, not a Hollywood ending, with the heated emotions of a crisis on full display.

Zuckoff's books often focus on intense moments of heroism and conflict, such as "13 Hours" about the terrorist attack in Benghazi and "Lost in Shangri-La" on a World War II rescue mission. "The Secret Gate" takes a similar approach in this fast-paced read that builds to the climactic and risky rescue.

Laura McCallum is an editor at the Star Tribune.

The Secret Gate

By: Mitchell Zuckoff.

Publisher: Random House, 336 pages, $28.99.