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Rating: 
Summary: Arab Crime Fiction a la Pulp
Review: I've long been looking for an Arab crime novel, and so it was with glee that I found this one (especially as I lived in Algiers for five years, where the book is set). Khadra (a psuedonym for a former Algerian army officer), has written three Superintendent Llob books, but I'm not sure where this one fits into the trilogy. Set in the mid to late-1990s, at the height of Algeria's Civil War (in which several hundred thousand people have died), when the police were targets for Islamic insurgents, the story has a viceral edge, as the hero takes his life in his hand every day when he leaves his apartment.Both the story and the style owe more than a little to Raymond Chandler, as the disenchanted hero is tasked with tracking down the missing daughter of a powerful mover and shaker. The muscular prose tracks Llob and his sidekick as they trawl through the dregs of the city and the corrupt upper echeleons in their attempt to stay alive and find the missing girl. The story is full of twists and turns, as they deal with pimps, pushers, and perverts in order to find the truth. All against a backdrop where certain neighborhoods are off-limits to police, every rich person is slimy, and any package could be a bomb. It's a quick read, and over the top in kind of a pulpy way, but well worth it if you're interested in having your stereotypes of the Arab world shattered. This is apparently being made into a filmóhere's hoping the other Llob books appear in English soon. Note: The excerpt posted on Amazon is not the final translation, and is much more fractured than what is in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Well Done
Review: Khandra's books are simple with multiple levels of perception. More importantly, they are masterfully wordsmithed (the over-used term is well earned in this case). These are the kind of books that haunt you for years as they become part of your psyche.....and you see parallels to the writing all around you.......the writing truly provides you with a new perception of your own life.
Here are all the books to date, with a bit of info on each:
Swallows of Kabul (2004)
A bit hit in France, this story of 2 couples and their attempts to cope with the rule of the Taliban is mesmerizing.
Wolf Dreams (2003) 3rd of an Algerian trilogy
A story of a Moslem Jihadi, from sweet boy to fanatic fundamentalist has been recommended for insight into the driving force of suicidist youngsters.
Morituri (2003) 2nd of an Algerian trilogy
An Algerian kidnaping story that provides a compelling look at the definition of crime in a permanently impoverished society.
In The Name Of God (2000) 1st of an Algerian trilogy
A look at the phenomena of Moslem fundamentalism in Algeria, this book has strong parallels to Camu's "The Plague." In some ways it is a more modern variation on a theme of Camu's work.
Rating: 
Summary: Morituri
Review: The English language version of Morituri, as translated by David Herman, IN THE EDITION I
HAVE is profoundly
frustrating. The language it is rendered in bears only a casual
resemblance to English. However, when I compared it with the excerpt which appears on the Amazon.com screen, I
was surprised to discover that it differed in many details from the text in my book, though
outwardly it appears to be the same edition. Many of the linguistic absurdities had been
removed. I had never encountered this phenomenon before, where identical editions of a
book would contain such different texts, one appearing to be a "raw", unedited
version of the translation.
Rating:
Summary: Morituri
Review: The English language version of Morituri, as translated by David Herman, IN THE EDITION I
HAVE is profoundly
frustrating. The language it is rendered in bears only a casual
resemblance to English. However, when I compared it with the excerpt which appears on the Amazon.com screen, I
was surprised to discover that it differed in many details from the text in my book, though
outwardly it appears to be the same edition. Many of the linguistic absurdities had been
removed. I had never encountered this phenomenon before, where identical editions of a
book would contain such different texts, one appearing to be a "raw", unedited
version of the translation.
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