Mysteries from the past . . . Contemporary deaths . . .
Adam Ibram, the Egyptian-born adviser to the US President, was brutally shot in a kebab house near the bazaar in old Cairo. This high profile murder brought both the local police and the FBI on the scene. So feisty, country-born Lieutenant Rashid is pulled off his current undercover job and reluctantly paired with arrogant, attractive Daisy Brooke, with her degree in Middle Eastern studies. The only thing the witness heard the dying man say was "Firebird" . . .
The one clue that Sammy Rashid found at the site was an Islamic amulet belonging to the Sansiya Brotherhood - a fundamentalist sect disbanded around 1917 . . . And in the bazaar the macabre, brutal killings continue. The locals blame it on a ghoul . . .
The combination of mystery and myth with contemporary scenes, the sense of the colour and violence of Cairo and the heat and harshness of the desert, the vividness of the characters and the strength of the storytelling, make this a compelling fascinating thriller.
