Firebird - Michael Asher

The new atmospheric thriller by the author of the outstanding The Eye of Ra. The murder in Cairo of Dr Adam Ibram, Egyptian-born adviser to the US President, brought both the local police and the FBI to scene. Feisty, country-born Lieutenant Rashid 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 had said was 'Firebird'. The explosive mix of character and national interest is 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 a remarkable site where a King of Persia, and his vast army, armour and gold bullion, disappeared in a sandstorm. The words Operation Firebird seem enough to have every door slammed against you...The activities of a of a strange Bedouin woman, always present just before violence occurs, and of the US Embassy and of various elements of Cairo police, make Sammy Rashid's 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 people 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.