|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Cairo makes a fascinating setting for the mystery series set around Sudanese private eye Makana. This time, Makana is hired by a politically well-connected art dealer to investigate an Iraqi colonel who is currently hiding out in Cairo, and potentially is the source of a rich stash of art treasures, some of which haven't been seen since the days of the Nazis.
However, this is only the beginning of the story, a tale that twists and turns more times than most readers could imagine. Nothing is as it first appears, and the missing artwork is not even the half of it. The Iraqi colonel is himself the subject of much interest, being one of the most wanted of Saddam's troops (once the subject of a playing card in the infamous card deck), and there's a $3 million price on his head. However, with the stash of paintings he's got (the booty of war with Kuwait), his possessions are worth many millions more.
Hot on the colonel's tail in addition to Makana is a group of American mercenaries led by Charles Barkley, which, unsurprisingly, is not the man's real name. Their pursuit of both the art dealer and colonel leads to bloodshed on the streets of Cairo, and also draws in the police and military (who helped the colonel gain safe passage from Iraq into Egypt). As if all that weren't enough, there's involvement by organized crime, who work both sides of the conflict.
Makana, too, is caught in the crossfire and must nimbly navigate the treachery to solve the case, while using each side to gain more information. When a young woman at a club frequented by the colonel reminds him of his past, it can threaten his own keen sensibilities. For readers, this story keeps moving and changing right up until the very last sentence. It's a book that draws its readers in and holds them to the last page.
§ Christine Zibas is a freelance writer and former director of publications for a Chicago nonprofit.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, February 2015
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
