Felaheen: The Third Arabesk

Set in a 21st-century Ottoman Empire, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s acclaimed Arabesk series is a noir action-thriller with an exotic twist. Here an ex-cop with nothing to lose finds himself on the trail of a man he doesn’t believe in: his father.

Ashraf Bey has been a lot of things–and most of them illegal. Now, having resigned as El Iskandryia’s Chief of Detectives, he’s taking stock of his life and there’s not much: a mistress he’s never made love to, a niece everyone thinks is mentally incompetent, and a credit card bill rising towards infinity. With a revolt breaking out across North Africa, the world seems to be racing Raf straight to hell. The last thing he needs is a father he’s never known. But when the old Emir’s security chief requests that Raf come out of retirement to investigate an assassination attempt on His Excellency, that’s exactly what Raf gets. Now, disguised as an itinerant laborer, Raf goes underground to discover a man–and a past–he never knew…and won’t survive again.

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” –SF Revu

“Felaheen is SF at its most inventive.” –Guardian

In a world where secrets kill, an ex-cop discovers he’s got the biggest secret of all.…

Set in a 21st-century Ottoman Empire, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s acclaimed Arabesk series is a noir action-thriller with an exotic twist. Here an ex-cop with nothing to lose finds himself on the trail of a man he doesn’t believe in: his father.

Ashraf Bey has been a lot of things–and most of them illegal. Now, having resigned as El Iskandryia’s Chief of Detectives, he’s taking stock of his life and there’s not much: a mistress he’s never made love to, a niece everyone thinks is mentally incompetent, and a credit card bill rising towards infinity. With a revolt breaking out across North Africa, the world seems to be racing Raf straight to hell. The last thing he needs is a father he’s never known. But when the old Emir’s security chief requests that Raf come out of retirement to investigate an assassination attempt on His Excellency, that’s exactly what Raf gets. Now, disguised as an itinerant laborer, Raf goes underground to discover a man–and a past–he never knew…and won’t survive again.

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” –SF Revu

“Felaheen is SF at its most inventive.” –Guardian

Publishers Weekly

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. (Dec.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Jon Courtenay Grimwood lives in England. The third book in his acclaimed "Arabesk" series, FELAHEEN, won the 2003 British Science Fiction Association Award, appeared on Locus Magazine's 2003 Recommended Reading List, and appeared on SFSite's Best of 2003 list.