The Promessa, a 1970s cocktail bar, is to be reopened in Tehran. Not as the glamorous location it once was, but as a slick showroom for art, fashion, and corporate receptions-a heady mix of profit, culture, and metropolitan swagger. By and by a hidden agenda emerges, involving an international network with gruesome intentions. Join the narrator, a young man with artistic ambitions who has no wish to disappoint his cosmopolitan backers, as he frantically struggles to open the Promessa on time. Shamelessly opportunistic, he turns local painters into stage props, militia members into video artists, and a spate in prison into a career opportunity. A frenetic, compelling look at modern Tehran, conspiracy theories, political fashions and the omnivorous international art world. 'The most suprising novel I've read in years.' Andrei Kurkov 'Funny, cynical and sharp' Tom McCarthy 'A sharp and well-timed novel' 3:AM Magazine 'Under the guise of a thriller Softcore serves as a smart– if schizophrenic– commentary on Iran at the intersection of competing cultural and political forces, where art and politics, meaning and form are interwoven, confused and exploited.' Daily Star 'A rare and fascinating glimpse of an Iran that both Ahmadinejad and the Western media would rather we didn't see.' New Internationalist 'A surprising and...enjoyable read' Complete Review