Effendi

By Jon Courtenay Grimwood

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.…

Praise for the Arabesk series and Effendi

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.”—Esquire

“All brilliant light and scorching heat . . . Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.”—Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 30, 2005
• ISBN: 9780553901917

Jon Courtenay Grimwood

John Courtenay Grimwood's novels Felaheen and End of the World Blues, won the BSFA Award for Best Novel. He has been shortlisted twice for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award, the August Derleth Award (UK), John W Campbell Memorial Award (US), among other awards.

Reviews for Effendi

[nadineeg-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating convoluted mystery set in an alternative Middle East in the city of El Iskandryis (Alexandria), second of a satisfying trilogy.

[m8a8harding · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The childwars stuff was really painful and all too plausible. (Alas, all too true!) The world of the book struck me a wierdly vivid but shadowy (in that there was a lot un-explained). I guess that is the problem of a series of novels. (This is the first I have read.) A bit dense to read. But the main characters have stayed with me - as have the child wars and the children's manipulator. Very bleak, but some individuals try to improve things. An adult, serious entertainment.

[archren · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book of Grimwood's Arabesk series. Do not read this if you have not read the first one, "Pashazade." While it may be theoretically possible to understand everything that has gone on and the relationships between the characters from just this book, I wouldn't recommend trying it. Ashraf Bey is an unlikely man to whom unlikely things happen. He acts as a political wildcard and detective in the slightly alternate future version of Alexandria, here called El Iskandriya. His relationships with his nine year old niece Hani and Zara, the beautiful daughter of a gangster industrialist, are complex to say the least. This book fleshes out more of the relationships and backgrounds of the major characters, while also obliquely illuminating the political situation that Iskandriya finds itself in. We learn little more about Asraf's background, but more about how he chooses to act now. The best thing about these books is the air of the exotic and the illustration of a place very, very different from our own, even if the time is very close to ours. This is especially true in the way that Grimwood depicts the reality of child "warriors" in the armies that fight the wars in Africa. He gives us an up close and personal portrayal of the kind of life these conscripted children lead, and it is sobering. This is not a light book. If you have trouble with strong language, explicit sex or explicit violence, this isn't for you. The plot is confusing and sometimes it seems that there is much, much more going on behind the scenes than Grimwood chooses to show us. However, the characters and the setting are definite strengths and keep one hooked throughout the entire novel. I recommend this, assuming you have read the first book, and I look forward myself to reading the final book in the trilogy, "Felaheen."