Romain Gary, Stephanie's Heads (Direct Flight to Allah)

"Direct Flight to Allah" by René Deville and "The Heads of Stephanie" by Shatan Bogat – who are these people and what do these books have in common? Under these titles and pseudonyms, the same novel by the great hoaxer, the renowned French writer Romain Gary, was published in the US and France.
"Direct Flight to Allah," undoubtedly inspired by the latest escalation of the situation in the Persian Gulf, could be called a "satirical political thriller": terrorism and espionage, arms trafficking and the oil business, the invisible struggle of superpowers for spheres of influence, Eastern exotica in both the good and bad senses – but for the main character, New York model Stephanie, this is merely the backdrop for a photo shoot. But only at first…
The novel was published in 1974 under the pseudonym Shatan Bogat.
Translated from French by Larisa Bondarenko.