This story is about someone who has made a new life for himself, under a new name, in order to cover up his past "misdeeds". When his past is threatened with exposure he flees the country, remembering hi past.
Mike Frame is now a respectable married man in a stable relationship, and is about to celebrate his 50th birthday. A figure from the past appears and that is when Mike's, (previously Chris,) past looks likely to be exposed. In the Sixties Mike, then Chris, became involved with a radical group who first started off demonstrating against the USA being in Vietnam, however the group became more and more radical, eventually turning into a terrorist group. The reasoning behind their actions is argued out amongst the different members of the group, so that you could start to think perhaps they were right to do what they did, as they did at the time. (As with every argument it can be viewed from both sides. It is actually quite frightening to think of)
Anyway, the book was engrossing, and an eye opener. Kunzru obviously did his research well.