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[/amazon_link]Title : The Golden Scales
Author : Parker Bilal
Genre : Mystery
Pages : 416
Publisher : Bloomsbury
Source : NetGalley/Publisher ARC
Rating : 4/5
I decided to read this book because I quite like mysteries situated in different cultures (like Finding Nouf), the more detail of the culture and the people the better. In this book, Makana, a Sudanese policeman has been living in Cairo for the past 7 years. He lives on an awama, a houseboat on the river Nile, rented from his landlady Umm Ali. Makana is a solitary man, we learn, and has a painful past. Now he works as a private investigator and manages to earn enough to keep body and soul together, albeit frugally.
His solitary contemplation is broken one morning as he is summoned to meet powerful Egytian tycoon, Saad Hanafi. Influential Hanafi owns the Dreem Team, a soccer team, whose star player Adil Romario has gone missing. Amid unpleasant speculation in the media as to his sudden disappearance, Hanafi wants him found, and Makana is tasked with this undertaking. He accepts of course; Hanafi is powerful and the promised fee is generous.
At one of his regular eating joints, Makana also meets Liz Markham, a Britisher in search of her only child. Liz has lost her daughter 17 years ago and has been coming back to Egypt every year since for clues to her disappearance. When she is found dead one day, Makana is asked to meet two British detectives who’ve come to find her killers – Liz’s father has political clout. Makana begins to feel that Liz’s death is connected to his case, and as he begins to dig deeper, he uncovers festering enemity, decade-old betrayals and some surprising truths.
The Golden Scales is not just a mystery novel; it is much more. The book’s basic plot stems from the two mysterious disappearances, but the author develops this into a full-fledged almost literary novel touching upon subjects from personal upheaval to public politics to Islamic philosophy. Bilal builds up Makana’s character beautifully; we know Makana as he is now and we delve into his past. We understand why he is what he is, and the events that have shaped him. Makana is a strong protagonist, down but not out, bearing the courage to stand and press on for what is right. This book, as strongly built-up as it is, is quite unforgettable because of Makana.
Bilal also describes Egypt well – it’s people, it’s locales, it’s vernacular language, and the political influences that shape the region. As readers we are able to get a good virtual look-seee around.As Makana goes about investigating he meets all sorts of people – football stars, film producers, politicians, struggling actresses, land sharks, Russian gangsters – each person for himself, wanting, grasping. Each of the characters in the book is well depicted, from their back-stories and their connections to the missing people, to their own motivations for the crimes. I loved the fact that even while this was a mystery novel, I got a sense of the socio-political climate, the life of ordinary people, the quality of women’s lives and the ever-present corruption; the mystery didn’t exist in isolation, it stemmed from it’s society and it’s culture and the nature of it’s people.
This is an engrossing book, an atmospheric mystery and an engaging piece of fiction. I hope to read many more Makana mysteries. Highly recommended.
