The Final Bet: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) [Hardcover]

I was held riveted by Hamdouchi's superb storytelling and finished this tale as a bedtime read in just over two hours. Here is a writer who knows how to cut to the chase and hone his talent for pace and plot-structure.

If I had to describe the plot in a paragraph, I would say this: A handsome young man, Othman returns home one night to find the woman he loathes, his wealthy dowager wife, Sofia, 40 years his senior - just think about it, she's 73 - stabbed to death while he himself sought an affair with a pretty aerobics instructor, Naeema. Through sinister alleyways, a grumpy Moroccan sleuth in Inspector Alwaar must discover the murderer. Alwaar is of the old school, harking back to the 70s and 80s, where the police were considered to be cruel and and as a result, much-feared. They were blamed for thousands of missing suspects and the abuse of human rights through the use of torture. There was said to be always a torture room in the basement of a police station.

Naturally, Othman's much-maligned love affair lead him straight to the police as an obvious suspect. The plot details the rough touch and intial rudeness of the detectives. The cantankerous sleuth in Alwaar and his colleagues badger their way around witnesses and use occasional force - why, nothing like a violent push or a bullying shout at an old woman in a tenement flat - and it's all in a day's work.

Alwaar whose life seems to be very much in keeping with France's own favourite sleuth in Inspector Maigret also like his French counterpart, owns up to the kitchen bustle of a fussy inquisitive wife. This, for a touch of necessary comedy. I wish that Hamdouchi had developed this specific scene as Alwaar's fictional wife would have added sharper depth, colour and interest to the plot. However, she fades off quickly as the story impatiently meanders on its way.

I found the sketching of these fictional police characters to be somewhat one-dimensional. However, Hamdouchi was brilliant at developing the psychological makeup of both Othman and Naema with a tireless dogged focus. Were the unlawful couple innocent? Did they really have no hand in the killing? Hamdouchi sketches out the lingering torment that blankets frightened minds and hearts with meticulous ease.

Only the arrival of a stranger and his insistence on new lines of thought, sheds light on the killer.

The Final Bet was translated by Jonathan Smolin.

I bought this book at the airport as I wanted to read a detective story and the first page seemed well written. The story is a classic crime conundrum, rich old women marries young pretty toy-boy more than 40 years younger than her, one night she is found stabbed in their house and the question is did he or didn't he. Of course I won't give it away, suffice to say the story is told from the point of view of the detective and Othman the young husband. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style, the story which kept my attention and the insight into Moroccan society and their way of life.

When I turned the last page I read the postscript from the translator which changed my perspective of this short relatively un-complex detective story. As what I hadn't realised when I picked this up looking for a simple detective novel is that its also a political statement, written to highlight flaws in the Moroccan police system at the time and that made me think about those things we often take for granted things such as an independant judicial system. So, a good read from both a detective and cultural perspective