Midnight Gate-opener

This novel is about a young boy's perplexing journey through adolescence in a corrupt, fast-changing environment of Iran during the last years of the Shah's regime. The playful, overly curious Kian Noori is anxious to solve several mysteries regarding his parents' history and lifestyle amidst the showy aristocratic society of Iran before the Islamic revolution. Then his life is turned upside down when a gypsy arrives at their home to tell his mother's fortune. He is not only mesmerized by her charm, but also perturbed by her peculiar predictions of his future and her warning about an ominous woman who would soon come into his life. Special circumstances expose Kian to the adults' vulgar life-styles in lavish parties and nightclubs, so he loses his chance to experience youth like other teenagers. Instead, he is drawn fast into risky territories, including affairs with older women. All along, he is grappling with his cynicism about his friends, adults, and even God. Many other questions, especially the rea-sons behind his mother's malice toward him, also keep him on the edge. He eventually succeeds to escape his parents and the life of the bourgeoisie in Tehran in order to find peace in the new world. Still, his parents' extreme retaliations against each other lead to their ultimate demise when they get themselves entangled with the hectic justice system of the new Islamic government. Kian feels guilty for his inability to help them even as a learned psychiatrist practising in Los Angeles.