- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Earthlight (6 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743461177
- ISBN-13: 978-0743461177
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,290,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The third instalment in Jon Courtenay Grimwood's critically acclaimed series of Ashraf Bey mysteries Detective. Diplomat. Uncle. Killer. Ashraf Bey has been many things since arriving in El Iskandryia from Seattle. One thing he hasn't been, as yet, is a son to Moncef, Emir of Tunis - the father Raf has still to meet. Of course, Raf doesn't believe the Emir is his father anyway. (Given his mother's insistence that he's the son of a Swedish hitch hiker). And now it may be too late, since the rumours that don't have Emir Moncef escaping assassination have him hovering on the edge of death. Despite refusing a plea for help from the Emir's chief of security, Raf still finds himself being drawn towards Tunis. It seems he has his own part in an unfolding political crisis that began decades earlier with US anti-globalisation riots and the Emir's refusal to ratify the 2005 UN Accord on Biotechnology.
About the Author
Jon Courtenay Grimwood was born in Malta and grew up in the Far East, Britain and Scandinavia. He also writes for magazines and newspapers including the GUARDIAN and SFX.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not third class but not quite top,
By
This review is from: Felaheen (Arabesk) (Hardcover)
The Third Arabesk lacks the originality of the first and drama of the second. The book is rich and enjoyable but for those seeking to expand the originality of #'s 1 and 2 the third is likely to disappoint...perhaps only slightly. The plot is more fantastical...but not is a particularly convincing way. The impression is that Courtenay-Grimwood is over extending his imagination. Suspension of disbelief has to be good to deal with this book. I could not really see the Raf that appears in the First and Second books quite extending himself so easily over the whole of north Africa. Frankly I think Raf is being redeveloped to fit increasingly (unrealistically) expansive plots. It didn't hold but the book is saved by the authors style, the richness of the text and material the author creates as background. 3/5 may be a little harsh but then i thought the First Arabesk was worth 6!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A drift away from louche noir.,
By
This review is from: Felaheen (Arabesk) (Hardcover)
Ashraf Bey returns for the third instalment of Courtney Jon Courtenay Grimwood's Arabesk series. As the potential son of the Emir of Tunis, Bey is unwillingly drawn from the claustrophobic streets and souks of El Iskandryia to the more open spaces of Ifriqikas deserts and palaces by an unusual assassination attempt on his putative father.A little more light is shed on Bays character in this instalment and the reader is given some of his backstory via flashbacks to both his mothers’ early life and to that of Bey as a child at boarding school. Further insight into Beys “fox” is also given, is it really an artefact of his pre-natal genosplicing or an aspect of his psychosis? A good book, but one that perhaps lacks the narrative tautness of its prequels, the change of setting seems to diminish Bey and his monomaniacal approach to solving the case removes some of the mystique which surrounded his character.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Third installment & still hooked,
By
This review is from: Felaheen (Arabesk) (Hardcover)
This third in the Arabesk series kept me engaged from start to finish. As a reader who was never really sold on cyberpunk I was slightly dubious about this series, but I can safely say that this is an accessible read and recommend it. Think you will know more about the life of the series' anti-hero Raf by the end? Yes. Or maybe no. Gripping development leads Ashraf to face the facts of his parentage via murder, romance, political intrigue, and self delusion. Readers will be pleased to read more of the strange world of billiant child Hani, and of the on-off-not really on-definitely off-maybe on relationship with Zara. The background history of this series is an almost familiar future middle east where the Ottoman empire didn't end with the First world war. Pashas, colonial rulers, still hold onto power in the North African state of Ifriqiya (so far we know it includes territory in modern day Egypt and Tunisia). Critics of previous books who have moaned about the lack of rigour applied to this history miss the point. In my view the Ottomon references make it possible to set the story in the Middle East, refer to very real issues (child soldiers, exploitation of the developing world by superpowers and big business, biotech etc) without becoming overwhelmed by the very real and desperate events of our modern day world. It also allows just a little bit of another worldview to be explored in the clash between Raf's childhood in the US and the new life he discovers in El Iskandryia and Tunis. The jump-cut interwoven story lines and parallel timelines add to the constant teasing with what might actually be the truth that characterise these books. You may have to re-read this as soon as you finish. It looks like a happy ending?
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