Parker Bilal - The Burning Gates

Rating: 4/5

Review:
An atmospheric, enjoyable thriller

I enjoyed this book.  It's the first Makana I've read, and I'll be trying others as a result.

Makana is a private investigator in modern Cairo.  The Burning Gates is set in 2004;  Mubarak is in power and the invasion of Iraq is a major factor in the region.  The story is convoluted and involves looted art treasures and a vicious, high-ranking Iraqi officer wanted by both the Americans and a group of mercenaries, set against a background of a corrupt government and police force, vested interests and organised crime. 

I thought the story was pretty well done.  Parker Bilal writes well and creates good characters who speak in believable dialogue.  It is decently plotted, although I thought that the first half of the book was a little slow, the twists in plot could be a bit hard to follow, and some aspects of the denouement were pretty silly.  Nonetheless, it kept me reading.

Where this book really shines is in its depiction of modern Egypt and in the character of Makana himself.  I really did get a feel for the world of 21^st Century Cairo; the atmosphere and physical sense of the place were excellently done, I think.  I also found Makana an engaging, believable character.  For once, comparisons between Makana and Chandler's Philip Marlowe, aren't just a lazy Private-Eye-Equals-Marlowe cliché.  Of course the setting, period and style are very different, but there is a similar sense of a fundamentally decent, moral man trying to do the right thing in a dirty world.  In The High Window, Marlowe describes himself as a "shop-soiled Sir Galahad," which I think would be a decent description of Makana.

This isn't a perfect book, but I think it's a good one.  It's thoughtful, evocative and a good read.  Recommended.