Firebird - Softcover

The new atmospheric thriller by the author of the outstanding The Eye of Ra.

The murder in Cairo of Dr al-Ghali, Egyptian-born adviser to the US President, brought both the local police and the FBI to the scene. Feisty, country-born Lieutenant Sami is paired with the FBI agent, arrogant, attractive Daisy Brooke, with her degree in middle eastern studies from California.

The only thing the dying man said was ‘Firebird’.

The explosive mix of character and national interest was fuelled by the discovery at the murder scene of an amulet traced to the Sanusiya Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Muslim sect thought to have disappeared at the turn of the century. The Sanusiya appear to have been involved in the excavation in the Western Desert of a remarkable site where Camyses III, King of Persia, and his vast army, armour and gold bullion, disappeared in a powerful sandstorm. And the words Operation Firebird seem enough to have every door slammed against you... The activities of a renegade group of Americans, apparently working for a secret organisation, of a strange Bedouin woman, always present just before violence occurs, and of the US Embassy and the various elements of Cairo police, make Sami and Daisy’s investigations both difficult and dangerous.

The combination of Egyptian myth and history with contemporary politics and violence, the author’s deep and authoritative knowledge of the peoples and places of Egypt, the strength of the storytelling and characters make this, as it did his first novel, The Eye of Ra, a fascinating thriller.

'The key adviser to the US President is murdered, in Cairo. No Witnesses, no motive. Political Heat. The last word heard was 'Firebird''

Sammy Rashid, Cairo's maverick detective, is assigned the hopeless case: a political hot potato made even worse by being harnessed to an FBI partner, covering the American interest.

The only cue is a charm connected to the disappearance of a Persian king, his army and his gold centuries earlier. How could that be of interest now – unless it is connected to its use as a symbol by a defunct Islamic fundamentalist group?

And the killings continue... Cairo is seized by the fear of the unidentified killer

A tense vivid thriller, steeped in the mysteries of the past, amid the alleyways of Cairo.

"Fast-moving, well written, endlessly exciting"
RICHARD BUNDY

"One of the most impressive novels I've read in years. The quality of writing, the characterisation, the plot twists are excellent. A stunning achievement; a book to buy and read over and over"
David V. Barrett