A MOVING debut from a young screenwriter brought up In England and Palestine, this isn't your typical thriller. It's quiet, almost domestic in tone,focusing on the aid workers and volunteers caught up in the Lebanese civil war in Beirut in 1982, which culminated in the infamous massacre at the Sabra refugee camp. Our narrator is 18-year-old Ivan, whose parents have just been evacuated with other members of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.

Ivan falls in love, but the pretty physiotherapist he admires is tantalisingly elusive. Hauntingly written, with a wonderful touch for human feelings, it builds to a horrifying climax at Sabra. Hiller's characters can barely believe what they're seeing, and you can barely bring yourself to read the heart-wrenching details. A thriller of compelling promise, if Hiller can reproduce its beauty and strength he will be a name to conjure with.