The Fourth Assassin by Matt Rees (2010)
Read: December 2011
It never takes me long to read a Matt Rees and I always try to save (and savour) them. This one I've had on the bookshelf for a year and I just couldn't wait any longer. It only took me a few days to get through as I was reading it on the bus as well as before bed. The moment I finished it though I went on to rees' website to see if he'd written another one (he hadn't :( ) which means this is the last Omar Yussef book for me for some time.
The book is set in New York and the backdrop is a cold UN Conference, but soon becomes a tale of murder that Omar and his son are caught up in. Rees paints the picture well, and you feel like a first-timer in the city trying to work out the streets, subways and people. Whilst Little Palestine offers a touch of back home for Yussef, it remains alien. It was great to see the old characters had made it over the pond too and the story linked back to previous installments nicely.
What Rees does so well is writes what seems like a simple story, but it isn't - it just seems simple because his writing is so accessible. In the same way you don't really realise the setting of the characters being from Palestine and all the cultural points that are referenced - he manages to write these in such a way that it feels natural that you are immersed in this way.
A really great book that I wish I could read again and again - more please!
Read: December 2011
It never takes me long to read a Matt Rees and I always try to save (and savour) them. This one I've had on the bookshelf for a year and I just couldn't wait any longer. It only took me a few days to get through as I was reading it on the bus as well as before bed. The moment I finished it though I went on to rees' website to see if he'd written another one (he hadn't :( ) which means this is the last Omar Yussef book for me for some time.
The book is set in New York and the backdrop is a cold UN Conference, but soon becomes a tale of murder that Omar and his son are caught up in. Rees paints the picture well, and you feel like a first-timer in the city trying to work out the streets, subways and people. Whilst Little Palestine offers a touch of back home for Yussef, it remains alien. It was great to see the old characters had made it over the pond too and the story linked back to previous installments nicely.
What Rees does so well is writes what seems like a simple story, but it isn't - it just seems simple because his writing is so accessible. In the same way you don't really realise the setting of the characters being from Palestine and all the cultural points that are referenced - he manages to write these in such a way that it feels natural that you are immersed in this way.
A really great book that I wish I could read again and again - more please!
