"Tariq still suffers from psychological disorders despite his abandonment of journalism after a close friend of his disappeared under mysterious circumstances in downtown Cairo. For several years, Tariq covered the Arab Spring throughout the region, and in the meantime he wrote an article about a Libyan doctor, called Abu Salma, who took up arms against... Gaddafi eventually left the country disillusioned after the outbreak of civil war. Abu Salma now heads a left-wing terrorist organization that kidnaps Arab politicians and has recruited two graphic novelists, Karim and Abdel Rahman, to draw his biography. They are supposed to meet him secretly in Zanzibar, where their paths cross The Sudanese Jamal and the Spanish Julia: two United Nations employees in Sudan, involved in a failed attempt to smuggle a Filipina maid from sexual exploitation.
The Fifth Column is a novel that takes the reader through the vicissitudes of Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Syria, the Basque Country, Barcelona, ​​and Zanzibar. A novel about love, passion for travel, and regret for lost dreams."

شريف عبد الصمد (1979-...): روائي وصحفيٌّ مصري من مواليد ١٩٧٩. نُشِر له من قبل: "شيء من الماضي"، و"ظمأ الليل" و"تشيخوف" و"السيدة صاحبة الشيواوا" (التي وصلت للقائمة القصيرة لجائزة ساويرس الثقافية). وهو حاصل على الدكتوراه في مجال الدراسات الأمريكية من جامعة برلين الحرَّة.