The Sniper, the Shopkeeper and Sami

by Geoff Daplyn

472 pages, Paperback

Published May 21, 2021

Reviews

[Will Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know Geoff but not well so was interested to try this, his first self published novel. He dives straight in the deep end by writing about the Israeli - Palestine conflict and doing so from a perspective supportive of the Palestinian cause. Indeed, the book came up in an article I read about Palestinian Book Awards. So the book lacked a credible character supportive of the Zionist argument. I thought Geoff brought out well the injustices experienced by the Palestinian people and how hard it is for them to improve their lot. There is a sense of impending doom in the book which the people of Gaza are now going through.

I'd have given the book 4 stars but for two reasons. The book tails off after what all the main characters are working towards fails ; it would have been better to end it there. But we do get to meet Sami from Gaza who is a great addition to the story. The second reason is that the sub-editing is awful; there's a mistake on every page