[ephemeral]

The Arabesk Trilogy (1-3) Omnibus by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (September 2007)
Requirements: ePUB Reader, 2.55 Mb
Overview: Jon Courtenay Grimwood was born in Malta and christened in the upturned bell of a ship. He grew up in the Far East, Britain and Scandinavia. Apart from novels, he writes for magazines and newspapers. For five years he wrote a monthly review column for the Guardian. He has also written for The Times, The Telegraph, and The Independent. He is married to the journalist and novelist Sam Baker, currently editor-in-chief of Red magazine. They divide their time between London and Winchester.
Genre: Fiction, Speculative Fiction



01. Pashazade: Part mystery, part speculative fiction, and wholly unforgettable, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s celebrated Arabesk series portrays the dark, hard-boiled story of a man out to prove his innocence in an alternate world where the facts aren’t always the same as the truth . . . and murder isn’t the worst that can happen.

It’s a twenty-first century hauntingly familiar—and yet startlingly different from our own. Here the United States brokered a deal that ended World War I, and the Ottoman Empire never collapsed. And lording it over all sits the complex, seductive, and bloodthirsty North African metropolis of El Iskandryia. Almost nothing is what it seems to be in El Isk, and Ashraf Bey is no exception.

Neither the rich Ottoman aristocrat everyone thinks he is, nor the minor street criminal once shipped off to prison when he fell foul of his Chinese Triad employers–the fact is that Raf has as little idea who he is as anyone else.

With few clues and no money, all Raf has is a surname hinting at noble heritage and an arranged marriage to a woman who hates him. But nothing Ashraf al Mansur learns about himself is as unexpected—or as terrifying—as the brutal murder he’s accused of committing. Now, as a hunted man with the welfare of a precocious young girl in his irresponsible hands, Raf must race after a killer through an unforgiving city as foreign to him as the truth he'll uncover about himself.

"In this clever first book of a trilogy that blends alternative SF and hard-boiled mystery from British author Grimwood, ZeeZee, who has spent his youth largely in boarding schools and in trouble, is also Ashraf al-Mansur, though that identity is unknown to him. Whisked away from a Seattle prison, ZeeZee is transported to El Iskandryia, an exotic, exquisitely detailed North African city. Whether Ashraf or ZeeZee, he's adaptable but not compliant. The world of wealth and privilege he's expected to accept without question comes with strings he's not to question either, like marriage to the willful Zara. Misunderstanding and mishandling his precarious situation, Ashraf becomes prime suspect in a murder, on the lam with only a vague understanding of where he is and who he is supposed to be. He's not only responsible for his own fate but also, surprisingly, the sole protector of a young girl. Grimwood artfully unveils the changed world that has developed in the many decades since WWI ended differently. Ashraf, a lifelong underdog and pawn, emerges as a resourceful and deadly foe, adapting quickly to survive in a game where the rules and the playing field shift repeatedly. SF and mystery fans will be pleased." ~Publishers Weekly

02. Effendi: Masterfully blending speculative fiction and hard-boiled mystery, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s acclaimed Arabesk series plunges readers into a world eerily familiar and shockingly unpredictable. Here a troubled detective follows a trail of clues through a city where innocence itself may be a thing of the past.…

It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise...

"In the entertaining second entry in Grimwood's Arabesk trilogy, Ashraf Bey is now the chief of detectives in the fictional Middle Eastern city of El Iskandryia, located in an alternate future where the Ottoman Empire still exists. While tensions between fundamentalism and nationalism roil the metropolis in a way that will be familiar to followers of current events, Bey must identify and thwart a vicious serial murderer who mutilates his victims. Suspicion attaches to the cryptic owner of Hamzah Enterprises, the father of the woman Bey has fallen for. Terrorist outrages rock El Iskandryia—kidnappings, arson, bombings—while the inquiry takes the sleuth on a journey through the seamy underbelly of his adopted society. As with Pashazade, the book gains strength from its depiction of the warm if prickly relationship Bey has with a young girl he has assumed responsibility for, as well as from some surprising flashes of humor. Less of a classic whodunit than its predecessor, this unique blend of mystery, speculative fiction, and political intrigue should attract readers across several genres." ~Publishers Weekly

03. Felaheen: 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.

"Grimwood's third Arabesk novel, like its predecessors, Pashazade and Effendi, skillfully blends a hard-boiled whodunit with SF and alternate history. In the Arabesk universe, where the Ottoman Empire still exists, twisted political intrigues and tensions serve as a challenging backdrop to the gritty investigations of Ashraf Bey, a genetically altered sleuth who may be related to the royal family. An attempt on the emir's life by means of a venomous snake forces Bey to probe his own parentage in order to identify the motives and the conspirators behind the attack. Bey's independent and spirited young niece, Hani, has a welcome expanded role as she tries to follow her uncle's trail. The plotting may be a tad convoluted for some, but Grimwood makes his imagined world feel real, while the ambiguity of the ending leaves room for more sequels. The author supplies Bey's backstory in a way that makes this reader-friendly for newcomers." ~Publishers Weekly

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