Raymond Khoury's Blog
August 28, 2019
PW review of EMPIRE OF LIES
EMPIRE OF LIES coming out Oct 1 across the US in hardcover, ebook and audiobook. Publishers Weekly has just given it a Starred Review. Here it is:
"Alternate histories don’t get much better than this thought-provoking mind bender from Khoury (The Last Templar). In 1683, suicide bombers, armed with dynamite, kill themselves and the leaders of the army of Christendom before they can march on Vienna and defeat the Ottoman forces besieging the city. The anachronistic explosives are the result of an intricate scheme launched by Iraqi ISIS leader Ayman Rasheed in the present after he learns the secret of time travel from a museum director he interrogated. Eager to recreate a caliphate that would awe the world, Ayman researches key turning points in Islamic history before determining that ensuring the capture of Vienna would lead to the continued existence and dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the 21st century. By 2017, however, the regime has become repressive and faces a resistance movement. The bulk of the action occurs in Paris, where Kamal Arslan Agha, of the counterterrorism directorate of the sultan’s secret police, investigates a murder connected to Ayman. Meanwhile, Ayman’s anesthesiologist brother, Ramazan, ends up treating an ill Ayman and begins to uncover his patient’s secrets, which places him and his wife, an ally of the resistance, in peril. Superior and plausible worldbuilding matches an ingeniously imaginative conceit. This ranks as a classic of the genre."
"Alternate histories don’t get much better than this thought-provoking mind bender from Khoury (The Last Templar). In 1683, suicide bombers, armed with dynamite, kill themselves and the leaders of the army of Christendom before they can march on Vienna and defeat the Ottoman forces besieging the city. The anachronistic explosives are the result of an intricate scheme launched by Iraqi ISIS leader Ayman Rasheed in the present after he learns the secret of time travel from a museum director he interrogated. Eager to recreate a caliphate that would awe the world, Ayman researches key turning points in Islamic history before determining that ensuring the capture of Vienna would lead to the continued existence and dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the 21st century. By 2017, however, the regime has become repressive and faces a resistance movement. The bulk of the action occurs in Paris, where Kamal Arslan Agha, of the counterterrorism directorate of the sultan’s secret police, investigates a murder connected to Ayman. Meanwhile, Ayman’s anesthesiologist brother, Ramazan, ends up treating an ill Ayman and begins to uncover his patient’s secrets, which places him and his wife, an ally of the resistance, in peril. Superior and plausible worldbuilding matches an ingeniously imaginative conceit. This ranks as a classic of the genre."
PW review of EMPIRE OF LIES
EMPIRE OF LIES coming out Oct 1 across the US in hardcover, ebook and audiobook. Publishers Weekly has just given it a Starred Review. Here it is:
"Alternate histories don’t get much better than this thought-provoking mind bender from Khoury (The Last Templar). In 1683, suicide bombers, armed with dynamite, kill themselves and the leaders of the army of Christendom before they can march on Vienna and defeat the Ottoman forces besieging the city. The anachronistic explosives are the result of an intricate scheme launched by Iraqi ISIS leader Ayman Rasheed in the present after he learns the secret of time travel from a museum director he interrogated. Eager to recreate a caliphate that would awe the world, Ayman researches key turning points in Islamic history before determining that ensuring the capture of Vienna would lead to the continued existence and dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the 21st century. By 2017, however, the regime has become repressive and faces a resistance movement. The bulk of the action occurs in Paris, where Kamal Arslan Agha, of the counterterrorism directorate of the sultan’s secret police, investigates a murder connected to Ayman. Meanwhile, Ayman’s anesthesiologist brother, Ramazan, ends up treating an ill Ayman and begins to uncover his patient’s secrets, which places him and his wife, an ally of the resistance, in peril. Superior and plausible worldbuilding matches an ingeniously imaginative conceit. This ranks as a classic of the genre."
"Alternate histories don’t get much better than this thought-provoking mind bender from Khoury (The Last Templar). In 1683, suicide bombers, armed with dynamite, kill themselves and the leaders of the army of Christendom before they can march on Vienna and defeat the Ottoman forces besieging the city. The anachronistic explosives are the result of an intricate scheme launched by Iraqi ISIS leader Ayman Rasheed in the present after he learns the secret of time travel from a museum director he interrogated. Eager to recreate a caliphate that would awe the world, Ayman researches key turning points in Islamic history before determining that ensuring the capture of Vienna would lead to the continued existence and dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the 21st century. By 2017, however, the regime has become repressive and faces a resistance movement. The bulk of the action occurs in Paris, where Kamal Arslan Agha, of the counterterrorism directorate of the sultan’s secret police, investigates a murder connected to Ayman. Meanwhile, Ayman’s anesthesiologist brother, Ramazan, ends up treating an ill Ayman and begins to uncover his patient’s secrets, which places him and his wife, an ally of the resistance, in peril. Superior and plausible worldbuilding matches an ingeniously imaginative conceit. This ranks as a classic of the genre."
January 3, 2016
SHADOW TAG
Happy New Year!
Steve Berry and I have a special New Year’s treat for you. It’s been almost exactly 10 years since my first novel, THE LAST TEMPLAR, and Steve Berry’s THE TEMPLAR LEGACY were released. Both books became huge international bestsellers and remain, to this day, both my and Steve’s most popular novels.
Amazon is celebrating this 10th anniversary with a special offering available only to its customers. A short story called SHADOW TAG, written by me and Steve and featuring Sean Reilly and Cotton Malone—along with the appearance of two other characters new to fiction, both of whom you might recognize (hint: one of them's bald).
Without wanting to spoil too much, I can tell you it was so much fun, a
total, total blast to write, and Steve and I are pretty sure you’re going to love it! It also includes exclusive sneak previews of my new book, THE END GAME (coming March 10 worldwide) and Steve’s next novel, THE 14TH COLONY (coming April 5 in the United States).
SHADOW TAG is priced at only 99 cents, and I can't wait to hear what you think of it.
Steve Berry and I have a special New Year’s treat for you. It’s been almost exactly 10 years since my first novel, THE LAST TEMPLAR, and Steve Berry’s THE TEMPLAR LEGACY were released. Both books became huge international bestsellers and remain, to this day, both my and Steve’s most popular novels.
Amazon is celebrating this 10th anniversary with a special offering available only to its customers. A short story called SHADOW TAG, written by me and Steve and featuring Sean Reilly and Cotton Malone—along with the appearance of two other characters new to fiction, both of whom you might recognize (hint: one of them's bald).
Without wanting to spoil too much, I can tell you it was so much fun, a
total, total blast to write, and Steve and I are pretty sure you’re going to love it! It also includes exclusive sneak previews of my new book, THE END GAME (coming March 10 worldwide) and Steve’s next novel, THE 14TH COLONY (coming April 5 in the United States). SHADOW TAG is priced at only 99 cents, and I can't wait to hear what you think of it.
April 10, 2014
Finally...
…finding the time to get onto Goodreads. It's been a tough few months on the family health front, but things should, with a bit of luck, start improving from here on. I'm finally finding the time to breathe a bit again… and post something here.
I've reviewed a couple of novels I just finished, different books from what I normally read. They're broadly in a genre I'm interested in at the moment, for a project I've been meaning to start for, well, a few months, once the new Reilly & Tess novel is finished, which will be SOON.
The working title for it is COLD BURN, it'll close out the Reed Corrigan story strand that was seeded at the very end of THE DEVIL'S ELIXIR and threaded through RASPUTIN'S SHADOW. Will Reilly finally find his nemesis? Will he take him down? It'll probably be hard, given that he's wanted for murder and on the run…
More soon…
I've reviewed a couple of novels I just finished, different books from what I normally read. They're broadly in a genre I'm interested in at the moment, for a project I've been meaning to start for, well, a few months, once the new Reilly & Tess novel is finished, which will be SOON.
The working title for it is COLD BURN, it'll close out the Reed Corrigan story strand that was seeded at the very end of THE DEVIL'S ELIXIR and threaded through RASPUTIN'S SHADOW. Will Reilly finally find his nemesis? Will he take him down? It'll probably be hard, given that he's wanted for murder and on the run…
More soon…
