This B-format paperback of "The Samaritan's Secret", the third Omar Yussef mystery, continues to build a major new crime franchise: 'Morse, Rebus and now Yussef' - "Observer". The first book in the series, "The Bethlehem Murders", won the Cwa John Creasy Dagger. When Omar Yussef travels to Nablus, the West Bank's most violent town, to attend a wedding, he little expects the trouble that awaits him. An ancient Torah scroll belonging to the Samaritans, descendants of the biblical Joseph, has been stolen. But when the dead body of a young Samaritan is discovered, a seemingly straightforward theft inquiry takes an unexpected turn. As Omar sets out to find the perpetrators of this murder, he is driven down into the murky alleys and tunnels of the old casbah in Nablus. Here, as he uncovers a deepening political rift, the secret deals of one of the region's richest businessmen, and the shadowy world of the tiny Samaritan community, he begins to wonder whether he will be able to attend the wedding after all.
The Samaritan's Secret
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"* 'Omar Yussef is a splendid creation.' Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse series * 'Yussef is quite clearly a detective who is here to stay.' Peter Burton, Daily Express"
About the Author
Matt Rees was born in South Wales. He has covered the Middle East as a journalist for more than a decade, including six years as Time magazine's Jerusalem bureau chief. He is the author of Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide and Fear in the Middle East. Atlantic Books published the first Omar Yussef novel, The Bethlehem Murders, in 2007, and the second, The Saladin Murders, in 2008. The Bethlehem Murders won the CWA John Creasey Dagger.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The Samaritan's Secret, Matt Rees third thriller about Palestinian academic Omar Yussef who gets involved in solving various killings in the modern-day West Bank, sees the teacher in Nablus for a family wedding only to become involved in the sidelines of the murder of a Samaritan financial expert being reluctantly investigated by the prospective groom. As is the rule in such thrillers, the case turns out to be more complicated than it first appears, with an abundance of possible motives, from stolen religious manuscripts, blackmail, homosexuality, files spilling the dirt on many of the region's most prominent figures and a fortune salted away in secret accounts by the `old man' (Arafat) before he died. Yussef, paunchy, past his prime and almost bemused by the futility and madness around him, is an engaging guide and it's a fairly intriguing mystery.
As a former political journalist Rees is excellent on the background, creating a vividly realised world of factions and putting it into an emotional as well as political context, but never allowing it to completely overshadow the story in the way that many writers who become overenamored of their research can be prone to. Instead he brings it into the foreground, making it a part of the characters that helps explain not only who they are but also why they do what they do without slipping into simplistic good guy/bad guy clichés. There's a good sense of the way that violence can erupt, often for petty political point scoring, and he's adept at throwing in the odd unexpectedly convincing human moment when it does, such as Yussef's realisation during one chase that's he's completely forgotten the person who was with him only moments before because his survival instinct has taken over.... Read more ›
As a former political journalist Rees is excellent on the background, creating a vividly realised world of factions and putting it into an emotional as well as political context, but never allowing it to completely overshadow the story in the way that many writers who become overenamored of their research can be prone to. Instead he brings it into the foreground, making it a part of the characters that helps explain not only who they are but also why they do what they do without slipping into simplistic good guy/bad guy clichés. There's a good sense of the way that violence can erupt, often for petty political point scoring, and he's adept at throwing in the odd unexpectedly convincing human moment when it does, such as Yussef's realisation during one chase that's he's completely forgotten the person who was with him only moments before because his survival instinct has taken over.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Sam
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
As the crime genre expands it is becoming increasingly difficult to bring something fresh to the genre. One obvious way to tackle this issue is to set your book in a unique location with characters not normally seen. This is Matt Rees' plan with his Omar Yussef novels and in this case `The Samaritan's Secret'. Set in Palestine it follows Yussef, a local history teacher, who becomes involved in crimes that are routed in the regions rich past. This time a young Samaritan man has been killed and Yussef has been asked to help his friend Sami, a policeman, investigate the killing as the Samaritans are an unknown religious element even in the religious and political hotspot of Palestine.
In terms of location Rees has written a very interesting book. He balances perfectly the description needed to explain Palestine alongside a generic crime story. Having a central hero as a historian allows Rees the excuse to have someone qualified to talk about the past and in context. As a new and interesting setting `Secret' is on to a winner. I loved the aggressive way that the character's interacted; Yussef often would say inflammatory things to get a reaction, even from his friends. However, such is the nature of Palestine in the book that people are used to this as a form of communication and do not hold grudges.
The flaws in the book are due to the crime story itself and how it unravels. I was able to follow the story until about half way and then it started to become slightly confused. Too many twists and turns made it lose its way, and this was not aided by Rees insistence to have Yussef's life threatened every 50 pages or so. Any self aware history teacher would run away! Overall, I liked the book due mainly for its setting, as a crime book alone, it was average.
In terms of location Rees has written a very interesting book. He balances perfectly the description needed to explain Palestine alongside a generic crime story. Having a central hero as a historian allows Rees the excuse to have someone qualified to talk about the past and in context. As a new and interesting setting `Secret' is on to a winner. I loved the aggressive way that the character's interacted; Yussef often would say inflammatory things to get a reaction, even from his friends. However, such is the nature of Palestine in the book that people are used to this as a form of communication and do not hold grudges.
The flaws in the book are due to the crime story itself and how it unravels. I was able to follow the story until about half way and then it started to become slightly confused. Too many twists and turns made it lose its way, and this was not aided by Rees insistence to have Yussef's life threatened every 50 pages or so. Any self aware history teacher would run away! Overall, I liked the book due mainly for its setting, as a crime book alone, it was average.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
`The Samaritan's Secret' starts slowly, perhaps as a result of having to familiarse the reader with a culture, location, and a formalized style of language which they may not have encountered before. The characters frequently use Islamic greetings, naming conventions and formal titles to address each other, but as someone with very little knowledge of Palestine, I still managed to engage with this novel pretty quickly, and even felt proud of myself for having `learnt something new'.
Our hero - middle-aged, nosey, erudite and sentimental amateur detective Omar Yussef - takes it upon himself to almost single handedly solve not only at least two murders, but Palestine's economic and social problems, in the space of a week. This makes for a ripping yarn, with some pertinent political comment, but not a very complex mystery.
Occasionally the narrative veers dangerously close to parody - "... the sheik turned an imperiously immobile fact toward him. He had a frown like a thousand fatwas". Other characters treat the main protagonist, rather conveniently, as a confessor, and I found the character of `Jaime' to be particularly insipid and was disappointed to find that we were, after all, always meant to take her at face value. The `macguffin' of the `qanafi' desert was stretched to its limits and used to explain behaviour that Yussef, or anyone else with half a brain, would never have normally demonstrated.
However, for its educational value and a good attempt to transplant a detective story to an exotic setting, I can recommend this novel as something new for crime fiction fans.
Our hero - middle-aged, nosey, erudite and sentimental amateur detective Omar Yussef - takes it upon himself to almost single handedly solve not only at least two murders, but Palestine's economic and social problems, in the space of a week. This makes for a ripping yarn, with some pertinent political comment, but not a very complex mystery.
Occasionally the narrative veers dangerously close to parody - "... the sheik turned an imperiously immobile fact toward him. He had a frown like a thousand fatwas". Other characters treat the main protagonist, rather conveniently, as a confessor, and I found the character of `Jaime' to be particularly insipid and was disappointed to find that we were, after all, always meant to take her at face value. The `macguffin' of the `qanafi' desert was stretched to its limits and used to explain behaviour that Yussef, or anyone else with half a brain, would never have normally demonstrated.
However, for its educational value and a good attempt to transplant a detective story to an exotic setting, I can recommend this novel as something new for crime fiction fans.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
great lead character, flatish story
The first two books in the Omar Yussef series are great reads, especially The Collaborator of Bethlehem. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Rob Kitchin
3.0 out of 5 stars
Intersting setting for a detective story
What's kind of good about this book is you are learning about what goes on in a hotbed part of the world. Read more
Published 15 months ago by stephen Luff
4.0 out of 5 stars
Samaritan's Secret
This is a fairly decent thriller. I started it months ago but got bored after a few chapters. However, I picked it up again recently and persevered with it. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mrs. H. L. Little
2.0 out of 5 stars
To be expected
'Journalist turned novelist' should tell you everything you need to know about this book. The problem, as expressed by other reviewers, is that the writing of good newspaper copy... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2010 by A Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Murder in Palestine
Omar Yussef what a great character.
I loved this book - a murder set in a place that you see on the news daily but know next to nothing about. Read more
I loved this book - a murder set in a place that you see on the news daily but know next to nothing about. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2009 by Cambridge Ian
4.0 out of 5 stars
Three stars for me is good!
If you like detective/police thrillers, those set abroad have an added edge - that of an outsider observing the day to day lives and attitudes of people with different standards... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by Wilz
2.0 out of 5 stars
Just didn't convince...
Maybe I've been spoiled by books by foreign correspondents, such as Dan Fesperman's stunning "Lie in the Dark". Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2009 by Friendlycard
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very Slow
To my mind this is a very slow novel, that I gave up with after a couple of chapters. Maybe the reader would have been rewarded by staying with it, but I'll never know
Published on 27 July 2009 by Derrick Johnson
3.0 out of 5 stars
A steady read
This is the first novel I have read by this author and I agree with a previous reviewer that it would help to have read them in order, which may ahve given some context to some... Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2009 by Wendy Jones
4.0 out of 5 stars
AN EVERYDAY STORY OF TERRORIST FOLK
Think Chandler when you read this detective novel. One character in the book even prompts us at intervals by telling us that Chandler is who she is reading. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2009 by DAVID BRYSON
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