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Makana #5
City of Jackals
Mourad Hafiz appears to have dropped out of university and disappeared. Engaged by his family to try and find him, Makana comes to believe that the Hafiz boy became involved in some kind of political activity just prior to his disappearance. But before he can discover more, the investigation is sidetracked: a severed head turns up on the riverbank next to his home, and Makana finds himself drawn into ethnic rivalry and gang war among young men from South Sudan. The trail leads from a church in the slums and the benevolent work of the larger-than-life Rev. Preston Corbis and sister Liz to the enigmatic Ihsan Qaddus and the Hesira Institute.
The fifth installment of this acclaimed series is set in Egypt in December 2005. While Cairo is torn by the protests by South Sudanese refugees demanding their rights, President Mubarak has just been re-elected by a dubious 88 percent majority in the country's first multi-party elections. In response to what appears to be flagrant election-rigging, there are early stirrings of organized political opposition to the regime. Change is afoot and Makana is in danger of being swept away in the seismic shifts of his adopted nation.
The fifth installment of this acclaimed series is set in Egypt in December 2005. While Cairo is torn by the protests by South Sudanese refugees demanding their rights, President Mubarak has just been re-elected by a dubious 88 percent majority in the country's first multi-party elections. In response to what appears to be flagrant election-rigging, there are early stirrings of organized political opposition to the regime. Change is afoot and Makana is in danger of being swept away in the seismic shifts of his adopted nation.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published June 7, 2016
21 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Parker Bilal
19 books105 followersParker Bilal is the pseudonym of Jamal Mahjoub. Mahjoub has published seven critically acclaimed literary novels, which have been widely translated. Born in London, he has lived at various times in the UK, Sudan, Cairo and Denmark. He currently lives in Barcelona.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 25, 2016
City of Jackals, by Parker Bilal, is the fifth book in the author’s Makana Investigation series, the third of which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. I had not read any of the earlier instalments but this lack did not impact my understanding. The story can be enjoyed standalone.
Set in modern day Cairo, where Private Investigator Makana lives on a rickety houseboat having been exiled from his native Sudan, the corruption, sexism and racial tensions of the area are in contrast to the inherent decency of the protagonist and many of his associates. The plot centres around the plight of refugees seeking asylum, and the potential for exploitation when the law is unequally invoked.
After a prologue describing two desperate people locked in a room and attempting to escape, the reader finds Makana on his houseboat smoking an early morning cigarette and ruminating on his latest assignment. A student at the local university has vanished and his concerned parents have engaged the investigator to find their son.
Makana’s musings are interrupted by his landlady’s daughter calling him to attend a situation on the riverbank. A fisherman has snagged a sack containing a severed head with markings that suggest it belonged to a man originally from Sudan. Cairo has a growing problem with refugees from the south and there are tensions as the local population resent their presence. Given the pressures on the law enforcement agencies, this victim’s demise is unlikely to be regarded as worthy of police resources. Makana is offered assistance from their pathologist, Doctora Siham, should he wish to look further into what has happened himself.
The search for the missing student leads Makana to a Christian church close to a makeshift refugee camp. Here he is introduced to a brother and sister who are offering a select few teenagers the opportunity to start a new life in the USA. The necessary health screening is supported by a private clinic which offers holistic treatments to the wealthy, many of whom come over specially from abroad.
When a road traffic accident reveals the body of another young man from South Sudan the various threads in Makana’s investigations begin to coalesce. He has his suspicions about the perpetrators of the crimes but their motive remains unclear. A breakthrough comes when another student makes a grotesque find in one of the many once oppulent but now abandoned buildings in the city. Makana realises that others are in danger and time is running out.
The denouement includes a chilling speech that vocalises a view that is worryingly widespread if rarely acknowledged.
“Think of it as something like an extension of natural selection. […] In a world of diminishing resources we live on because we can afford to do so. […] Do you really believe that nameless, forgotten refugees, people without a home, or a family, at the bottom of the food chain, as it were, that they really deserve a better fate?”
With the current refugee crisis in Europe this story is timely. It is also good to read something written from a Muslim perspective, and to be reminded that those raised in whatever religion may be disinterested in following its tenets and rituals. The challenge moderates face when living in a country teetering on the brink of civil collapse, being plundered by the privileged and threatened by radicals, was well evoked.
A taut and pacy work with an original voice this provided an enjoyable read even if, as a woman, I did feel some frustration with many of the characters’ attitudes. Life in Cairo is not presented in a positive light but it made for a fascinating backdrop. A worthy addition to the books I consider quality crime fiction.
My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Bloomsbury.
Set in modern day Cairo, where Private Investigator Makana lives on a rickety houseboat having been exiled from his native Sudan, the corruption, sexism and racial tensions of the area are in contrast to the inherent decency of the protagonist and many of his associates. The plot centres around the plight of refugees seeking asylum, and the potential for exploitation when the law is unequally invoked.
After a prologue describing two desperate people locked in a room and attempting to escape, the reader finds Makana on his houseboat smoking an early morning cigarette and ruminating on his latest assignment. A student at the local university has vanished and his concerned parents have engaged the investigator to find their son.
Makana’s musings are interrupted by his landlady’s daughter calling him to attend a situation on the riverbank. A fisherman has snagged a sack containing a severed head with markings that suggest it belonged to a man originally from Sudan. Cairo has a growing problem with refugees from the south and there are tensions as the local population resent their presence. Given the pressures on the law enforcement agencies, this victim’s demise is unlikely to be regarded as worthy of police resources. Makana is offered assistance from their pathologist, Doctora Siham, should he wish to look further into what has happened himself.
The search for the missing student leads Makana to a Christian church close to a makeshift refugee camp. Here he is introduced to a brother and sister who are offering a select few teenagers the opportunity to start a new life in the USA. The necessary health screening is supported by a private clinic which offers holistic treatments to the wealthy, many of whom come over specially from abroad.
When a road traffic accident reveals the body of another young man from South Sudan the various threads in Makana’s investigations begin to coalesce. He has his suspicions about the perpetrators of the crimes but their motive remains unclear. A breakthrough comes when another student makes a grotesque find in one of the many once oppulent but now abandoned buildings in the city. Makana realises that others are in danger and time is running out.
The denouement includes a chilling speech that vocalises a view that is worryingly widespread if rarely acknowledged.
“Think of it as something like an extension of natural selection. […] In a world of diminishing resources we live on because we can afford to do so. […] Do you really believe that nameless, forgotten refugees, people without a home, or a family, at the bottom of the food chain, as it were, that they really deserve a better fate?”
With the current refugee crisis in Europe this story is timely. It is also good to read something written from a Muslim perspective, and to be reminded that those raised in whatever religion may be disinterested in following its tenets and rituals. The challenge moderates face when living in a country teetering on the brink of civil collapse, being plundered by the privileged and threatened by radicals, was well evoked.
A taut and pacy work with an original voice this provided an enjoyable read even if, as a woman, I did feel some frustration with many of the characters’ attitudes. Life in Cairo is not presented in a positive light but it made for a fascinating backdrop. A worthy addition to the books I consider quality crime fiction.
My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Bloomsbury.
July 15, 2021
This is the fifth book in a series by Jamal Mahjoub, a well-respected writer of literary fiction, writing under the pseudonym Parker Bilal. For those who like detective fiction, this is a find: a really appealing continuing character, Markana, a refugee from Sudan, living in Cairo and making a simple living as a private investigator, using the skills he developed as a police detective in North Sudan, as he cannot work as a policeman in Egypt. He is also constantly under some level of threat from the political functionaries/criminals for whom he worked in his native country. Markana is a wonderful character, living on a broken-down houseboat and trying to cope with the loss of his wife and daughter a decade ago. His simple observational skills and firm moral compass are always getting him in trouble in a culture rife with corruption, crime and the horrible results of poverty. He has a tenous partnership with a local police official, who hides a belief in justice under his allegiance to corrupt and political hacks, so sometimes uses Markana as an extra-official way to find answers, yet seeming to only grudgingly allow Markana to use him. The series offers such amazing peeks into the Egyptian culture, and the way different social classes survive and relate, while maintain interest in the ongoing plots. Wholly unique, Markana is neither a Jack Reacher gung-ho hero, nor a removed intellectual investigator, but one who is often pulled into difficult and complex situations by his values and humanity in the face of much brutality and savage consequences of poverty and government indifference. Sometimes the investigator is bedeviled by his own tragic past or the underside of his native or adopted countries' history. I will never look at Sudan or Egypt in quite the same way again. Without being an apologist for the dark side, the author through his generous main character is able to help us see how people are often helpless to fight back against terrible social forces and their bad choices are sometime much more understandable, when you see what they face and have lost. Markana usually solves the mystery, but does not always save the victims or bring all the evil people to justice. But he usually makes horrible situations a little more humane and even helps some folks retain elements of hope, dignity, and peace. The whole series is recommended, but this volume is quite poignant, has a particularly keen view, characters of interest and widening of one's world view.
May 29, 2022
In this installment, former Sudanese policeman who makes his living as a private investigator in Cairo, searches for a missing university student and finds his case intersects with the city's refugee crisis in a sinister way beginning with the discovery of a severed head. In a city rife with social unrest and economic distress, he is forced to consider how his situation differs from others who have escaped persecution and landed in Cairo.
The character of Makana is an intriguing one, and the familiar supporting characters continue to gather depth. The novel is overlong which likely contributes to a slow pace, one which accelerates in the final half-dozen chapters. An early tendency to overuse similes has also popped in spots. Still, the novel is thought-provoking, shining an indiscriminate light on East and West alike.
The character of Makana is an intriguing one, and the familiar supporting characters continue to gather depth. The novel is overlong which likely contributes to a slow pace, one which accelerates in the final half-dozen chapters. An early tendency to overuse similes has also popped in spots. Still, the novel is thought-provoking, shining an indiscriminate light on East and West alike.
May 10, 2021
This fifth installment in the Makana mystery series should send you back to the first four. I first read Bilal, who was born in London and raised in Khartoum, because his books are set in Cairo. I’m not much of a mystery fan, but I'm a big fan of Cairo and Bilal takes full advantage of the city setting to enhance the story. This mystery takes place in 2005, after the election of Mubarak and protests by South Sudanese refugees. The Sudanese detective Makana is sympathetic, honest in the midst of corruption, sad (he has a tragic past), and living on an old houseboat on the Nile. Entertaining and exciting but also revealing, the series spins yarns while exposing the reality that Egypt is not all tombs and Pharaohs.
October 8, 2017
Exciting plot. Interesting background re egypt, sudan and israel.
The book was fascinating and hard to put down.
I made ful muldanes just to get in the spirit of the book!
All around fab!!
December 31, 2024
Crime mystery set in CAIRO
No. 5 in the Makana mystery series
This may be the fifth outing for Makana but this novel can certainly be read as a standalone. Makana is a widowed Sudanese investigator, and soon he is tasked with tackling multiple incidents: there is a severed head (in the river, in a bag which also contains a catfish munching on the remains); he also has to contend with a missing student, and a serial killer preying on refugees. The police force has its own vested interests.
He gently but assertively goes about his business, generally eschewing more modern investigative technology. This is not only a novel of crime sleuthing, but the author also introduces contemporary social and political issues facing the characters, all set against a Cairo that is generally more hidden from the tourist eye. A city of corruption and division, with crumbling buildings and infrastructure, really adds a textured backdrop to the evolving story.
A good series to transport the reader to Cairo and Egypt (and Sudan).
No. 5 in the Makana mystery series
This may be the fifth outing for Makana but this novel can certainly be read as a standalone. Makana is a widowed Sudanese investigator, and soon he is tasked with tackling multiple incidents: there is a severed head (in the river, in a bag which also contains a catfish munching on the remains); he also has to contend with a missing student, and a serial killer preying on refugees. The police force has its own vested interests.
He gently but assertively goes about his business, generally eschewing more modern investigative technology. This is not only a novel of crime sleuthing, but the author also introduces contemporary social and political issues facing the characters, all set against a Cairo that is generally more hidden from the tourist eye. A city of corruption and division, with crumbling buildings and infrastructure, really adds a textured backdrop to the evolving story.
A good series to transport the reader to Cairo and Egypt (and Sudan).
June 21, 2022
The writing was dull and flat. The only reason I knew it was set in an Arabic speaking country was because of the names. I was not transported to Cairo, neither senses of spirit of the calves was captured due in large part to he telling not showing style of the narrative style.
The characters weer one dimensional, and in a lot of cases were difficult to distinguish who was who, sympathy, empathy or connection were felt for nones except for the young victims who played shadow cameo roles.
The plot was weak and obvious but confusing as it jumped from place to place and it pulled together too late to make it a page turner.
I recognise it is can be difficult to read a book well into the series but I don't feel compelled to read any of the other, this was a slog. To the charity shop box.
The characters weer one dimensional, and in a lot of cases were difficult to distinguish who was who, sympathy, empathy or connection were felt for nones except for the young victims who played shadow cameo roles.
The plot was weak and obvious but confusing as it jumped from place to place and it pulled together too late to make it a page turner.
I recognise it is can be difficult to read a book well into the series but I don't feel compelled to read any of the other, this was a slog. To the charity shop box.
June 28, 2019
I enjoyed The Burning Gates, and this is the only other in the series at my library.
Having visited Cairo recently, it was interesting to read about a few of the places I visited while imagining things during Mubarak's time.
A good read, although I guessed a lot of what was going on well before the end.
Having visited Cairo recently, it was interesting to read about a few of the places I visited while imagining things during Mubarak's time.
A good read, although I guessed a lot of what was going on well before the end.
September 5, 2023
In Cairo of the 2000s former Sudanese, now exiled, policeman Makana gets a new case - a missing college student. With his journalist friend, his assistant/driver, and a semi friendly Cairo cop Makana wanders into a sea of trouble. Shady Americans, shady businessmen, and shady refugees leave the case confusing. But he does meet a lovely and helpful doctor.
It is not a happy world Makana lives in, but he fights for some form of justice.
It is not a happy world Makana lives in, but he fights for some form of justice.
July 14, 2019
In an ideal world, David Hare would adapt this series for BBC and Doris Elba would Star as Makana, the haunted and lugubrious refugee from Karthoum, who scouts the streets of Cairo for lost children, shady deals, and corrupt power-brokers who paint working cairenes and the Fedayeen of rural Egypt into tight corners or ignominious graves.
June 15, 2020
Intriguing characters, setting and storyline. I may just need to get used to the author’s writing style - I find it a bit disjointed and incomplete. I am trusting the author’s presentation of present day Cairo culture and ambience, as an armchair traveler. Definitely a series worth picking up from the beginning.
August 18, 2021
Sometimes these plots get very convoluted with lots of side stories. Of course, in a series with a main character, the author takes time developing the character's life, including lots of personal stuff. I wasn't as taken with this book as a couple of others. I think this be the last I'll read of this series.
August 7, 2020
Parker Bilal is one of my favorite authors. He captures the atmosphere of Cairo and its people. Makana and his friends are wonderful!! Always a good mystery. The women in the story are always treated with great respect. A good book.
March 20, 2020
Bon polar très agréable à lire. Il se déroule en Égypte ce qui fait une part de son originalité, en tout cas pour moi !
September 4, 2023
Yet another skillfully constructed detective novel by Parker Bilal. I'm a fan!
January 7, 2026
3.5. a very quick read with sparse prose that made it feel almost dreamlike in places. not sure if i'll read the rest of the series but i enjoyed reading this
September 27, 2016
The latest installment in the Makana series by Parker Bilal lived up to the promise of his earlier work. The first book I read by him was a revelation, opening my eyes about Egypt, a country that usually only features in our minds as a tourist destination (the same is probably true for what others think of India, so I hope I can be forgiven my short sightedness or rather my ignorance of world events). Parker Bilal’s new book, along with a fascinating story that meanders through quite a few plot lines, educated me about the culture of another country – Sudan. The religious divide in the North and South of Sudan is chilling and its results horrifying. Reading about a one-line update on the news and reading about people whose lives have been affected by it (even those in fiction) is very different.
Makana is a middle-aged Sudanese living in Egypt for the last few years. He was chased out of Khartoum possibly due to his politics and lost his wife and daughter in his flight to freedom. There are some rumours that say his daughter is in fact alive in Khartoum and a prisoner but it has never been confirmed. Going back to look for her is a suicide mission and the decision whether to do so keeps eating away at him. Makana is a loner and not a very happy person as a result of his experiences. He lives on a dilapidated houseboat (what an eccentricity!) and has a few very interesting friends.
In this book Makana has just undertaken to search for a man in his twenties who has been missing for a few weeks from his university. The parents are worried even though most people refuse to take the disappearance of a grown man seriously. The very next day a head turns up in the river near his boat and since it is clearly that of a Sudanese refugee, the police are not very keen on looking for answers. The officer in charge and Makana’s somewhat friend Okasha puts Makana in charge of the investigation with some clever emotional blackmail. The medical examiner is Doctor Siham, a lone highly intelligent woman in the predominantly male world of Egyptian government. She teams up with Makana most unexpectedly and manages to shake his equilibrium a quite a bit, which I enjoyed very much. It is she who points out that the severed head belongs to a Southern Sudanese which would thus make him a refugee and a Christian.
The best thing about Parker Bilal’s writing is that it is so crisp and well-rounded that one immediately feels comfortable with his story and his narrative style. His descriptions are not too long-winded as to become tedious, nor so short that one is left floundering with half-formed ideas. Egypt has certainly come alive in my mind after reading his books - much like the mental images of London or America that books have given me. I have certainly googled a lot of stuff after reading this book – the history of Sudan, the Palace Gardens, medicine in Egypt and so on.
Makana is not some young, spunky detective and yet one is rooting for him from almost the get go. He is a sad, lonely man and yet has friends who seem incredibly loyal to him, even at the expense of landing in very serious trouble. You are inclined to start wishing for more humour and more love to come his way since he is essentially a nice guy.
Reading about refugees as always gets me thinking about how terrible it must be to leave all that you love behind and move into uncharted and more often than not hostile waters. How do you decide what to take and what to leave behind? Is it possible to ever get over the loss of a house that you spent decades turning into a home?
It is an incredibly serious story and a thought provoking one as well, staying with you long after you have flipped over the last page, branding itself on your brain with all its political and social pointers about life in countries that seem to have so much in common with our own. Having a home, freedom to live as you please and the desire to enjoy a life without persecution are all ideals that everyone can relate to. One can only applaud Parker Bilal’s ingenuity of camouflaging a history and social lesson in what would normally be termed as leisure reading.
Waiting for his next.
Makana is a middle-aged Sudanese living in Egypt for the last few years. He was chased out of Khartoum possibly due to his politics and lost his wife and daughter in his flight to freedom. There are some rumours that say his daughter is in fact alive in Khartoum and a prisoner but it has never been confirmed. Going back to look for her is a suicide mission and the decision whether to do so keeps eating away at him. Makana is a loner and not a very happy person as a result of his experiences. He lives on a dilapidated houseboat (what an eccentricity!) and has a few very interesting friends.
In this book Makana has just undertaken to search for a man in his twenties who has been missing for a few weeks from his university. The parents are worried even though most people refuse to take the disappearance of a grown man seriously. The very next day a head turns up in the river near his boat and since it is clearly that of a Sudanese refugee, the police are not very keen on looking for answers. The officer in charge and Makana’s somewhat friend Okasha puts Makana in charge of the investigation with some clever emotional blackmail. The medical examiner is Doctor Siham, a lone highly intelligent woman in the predominantly male world of Egyptian government. She teams up with Makana most unexpectedly and manages to shake his equilibrium a quite a bit, which I enjoyed very much. It is she who points out that the severed head belongs to a Southern Sudanese which would thus make him a refugee and a Christian.
The best thing about Parker Bilal’s writing is that it is so crisp and well-rounded that one immediately feels comfortable with his story and his narrative style. His descriptions are not too long-winded as to become tedious, nor so short that one is left floundering with half-formed ideas. Egypt has certainly come alive in my mind after reading his books - much like the mental images of London or America that books have given me. I have certainly googled a lot of stuff after reading this book – the history of Sudan, the Palace Gardens, medicine in Egypt and so on.
Makana is not some young, spunky detective and yet one is rooting for him from almost the get go. He is a sad, lonely man and yet has friends who seem incredibly loyal to him, even at the expense of landing in very serious trouble. You are inclined to start wishing for more humour and more love to come his way since he is essentially a nice guy.
Reading about refugees as always gets me thinking about how terrible it must be to leave all that you love behind and move into uncharted and more often than not hostile waters. How do you decide what to take and what to leave behind? Is it possible to ever get over the loss of a house that you spent decades turning into a home?
It is an incredibly serious story and a thought provoking one as well, staying with you long after you have flipped over the last page, branding itself on your brain with all its political and social pointers about life in countries that seem to have so much in common with our own. Having a home, freedom to live as you please and the desire to enjoy a life without persecution are all ideals that everyone can relate to. One can only applaud Parker Bilal’s ingenuity of camouflaging a history and social lesson in what would normally be termed as leisure reading.
Waiting for his next.
June 1, 2016
A severed head, a brother and sister facing imminent danger, a missing student and the mounting refugee crisis being largely ignored while corruption feeds off the misery – and that’s just scratching the surface of a plot that skulks around the ancient facades of Cairo. And what a web Parker Bilal weaves!
The city and the barren landscape which surrounds it provides is depicted as the most perfect environment for a City of Jackals to thrive. The vast proportion of the population observes tradition, while the brave few (or the bitterly inexperienced) long to change the world. The barbed divide of the population, which stems from the hostilities between North and South, never diminishes throughout. It’s the ideal distraction to allow others to use it to their own warped advantage while everyone’s looking the other way.
What’s abundantly clear is that life is constantly hindered for a widowed Sudanese private investigator called Makana. It’s not the easiest place to live or work if you’re exiled from your own country. His origins often attract immediate disapproval, regardless of his kind-hearted motives and aptitude. Residing quietly on his houseboat, held together by luck, people employ his investigative services and he enlists a variety of trusted amateurs to assist him (even if one of them is wallowing in his own relationship issues and decides to join him on the boat, uninvited I might add!)
Makana’s investigation is refreshingly old school. He considers modern technology to be a cult-like invention that everyone blindly follows and often sees him glaring at his mobile phone as if it’s an alien probe. He relies on the chauffeuring skills of Sindbad and his battered Datsun to willingly abandon his tourist taxi business to ferry him around during an investigation. Each location reveals another level of deception. If a sense of hope dares to raise its naïve head it’s not for long. The case of the missing student and the unidentified head from the river are just the tip of the pyramid.
I LOVE the manner in which Makana’s character is portrayed. Even though he shows tenacity and must wear armour plate to deflect the harshness of the world, he appears ever the gent. And it doesn’t matter what nationality the victims are, they’re still victims and he’ll seek justice for all. It feels like he’s forever searching for the light switch at the end of a very long tunnel at times.
This may be book five in the Makana Mystery series but it can easily be read as a standalone. There’s adequate information to hint at his grim past without saturating the pages. While it doesn’t always unfold at break-neck speed, the pace matches the crime solving techniques and allows frustration of multiple culture clashes in dark, dark times to brew.
City Of Jackals has a thoroughly atmospheric, brute of a plot (and a brilliant one too!). The simple pleasures of a champion technophobe sleuth backed by an assortment of eager, unofficial assistants creates a rare crime thriller oasis.
(My thanks to the publisher - and Philippa Cotton – for kindly introducing me to the wonderful character of Makana.)
The city and the barren landscape which surrounds it provides is depicted as the most perfect environment for a City of Jackals to thrive. The vast proportion of the population observes tradition, while the brave few (or the bitterly inexperienced) long to change the world. The barbed divide of the population, which stems from the hostilities between North and South, never diminishes throughout. It’s the ideal distraction to allow others to use it to their own warped advantage while everyone’s looking the other way.
What’s abundantly clear is that life is constantly hindered for a widowed Sudanese private investigator called Makana. It’s not the easiest place to live or work if you’re exiled from your own country. His origins often attract immediate disapproval, regardless of his kind-hearted motives and aptitude. Residing quietly on his houseboat, held together by luck, people employ his investigative services and he enlists a variety of trusted amateurs to assist him (even if one of them is wallowing in his own relationship issues and decides to join him on the boat, uninvited I might add!)
Makana’s investigation is refreshingly old school. He considers modern technology to be a cult-like invention that everyone blindly follows and often sees him glaring at his mobile phone as if it’s an alien probe. He relies on the chauffeuring skills of Sindbad and his battered Datsun to willingly abandon his tourist taxi business to ferry him around during an investigation. Each location reveals another level of deception. If a sense of hope dares to raise its naïve head it’s not for long. The case of the missing student and the unidentified head from the river are just the tip of the pyramid.
I LOVE the manner in which Makana’s character is portrayed. Even though he shows tenacity and must wear armour plate to deflect the harshness of the world, he appears ever the gent. And it doesn’t matter what nationality the victims are, they’re still victims and he’ll seek justice for all. It feels like he’s forever searching for the light switch at the end of a very long tunnel at times.
This may be book five in the Makana Mystery series but it can easily be read as a standalone. There’s adequate information to hint at his grim past without saturating the pages. While it doesn’t always unfold at break-neck speed, the pace matches the crime solving techniques and allows frustration of multiple culture clashes in dark, dark times to brew.
City Of Jackals has a thoroughly atmospheric, brute of a plot (and a brilliant one too!). The simple pleasures of a champion technophobe sleuth backed by an assortment of eager, unofficial assistants creates a rare crime thriller oasis.
(My thanks to the publisher - and Philippa Cotton – for kindly introducing me to the wonderful character of Makana.)
September 20, 2016
This is a very well written thriller book. The main character, Makana, is intriguing in this series set in Egypt. The characters can get confusing at times which is why I only gave the book 4 stars. But, I will be reading more books in this series.
June 30, 2016
A young brother and sister are fleeing from an unnamed danger. A man fishing near Makana's home pulls in a bag that has a head in it. The police are not too interested - the head may be Sudanese and there are no clues to his identity or cause of death. Makana is hired to find a missing university student. These are the threads that are skillfully pulled together in this complex and interesting story. While looking for the missing boy, Makana comes to a refugee camp where an American brother and sister are grooming young people to send them to new homes in the United States.
Then he and his driver come across a traffic accident with another dead Sudanese youth. Makana cannot leave the death of either unknown man alone. He and Sindbad, his driver, his reporter friend, his techie, and his wonderful pathologist friend keep tugging at loose threads until quite suddenly all hell breaks loose and lives are in danger.
The series is set in Cairo before the Arab spring, and it is richly portrayed - the ethnic, tribal and religious factions, the political unrest, the struggles between the powerful old and the idealistic youth are all laid out in a way that serves the story well.
Then he and his driver come across a traffic accident with another dead Sudanese youth. Makana cannot leave the death of either unknown man alone. He and Sindbad, his driver, his reporter friend, his techie, and his wonderful pathologist friend keep tugging at loose threads until quite suddenly all hell breaks loose and lives are in danger.
The series is set in Cairo before the Arab spring, and it is richly portrayed - the ethnic, tribal and religious factions, the political unrest, the struggles between the powerful old and the idealistic youth are all laid out in a way that serves the story well.
October 5, 2016
One of my favorite series because of its unusual setting (the immediate past in Cairo) and the circumstances of its protagonist-Makana, the former Sudanese policeman. Makana has a head show up at his doorstep-well sort of, he lives on a boat. It belongs to a fellow countryman but from the south of Sudan. He has also been hired by a family to find their university student son who has all but disappeared. Makana pursues both mysteries in his usual inscrutable manner and eventually finds a connection. There's so much darkness lurking in this tale as religion is involved. The hypocrisy of do-gooders, the never-ending corruption, the futility of change, and hope for the future are familiar themes as well. But there are some pleasant surprises in store as Makana might have found a soulmate. Looking forward to seeing if a relationship develops for him. He's been through so much and has maintained his humanity and integrity. He is deserving of some happiness. I would love to see Bilal write a story set during the brief time the Islamic Brotherhood was in power.
July 17, 2017
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The books in this series work with an excruciatingly slow buildup. A police procedural carried out by an outsider. Investigations that can only be carried out by someone free of the corruption and politics of the police. The slowness of these investigations works because Makana is such a complex and fascinating character. A Sudanese refugee living in exile in Cairo. Cairo itself forms the other reason why this story is so compelling. The action and violence in CITY OF JACKALS is sparse, and brutally effective as part of the story. The plot works its way through with meticulous precision and the conclusion ties up many loose ends. I had hoped to see more progress on the backstory (when will we learn the fate of Makana's missing daughter?). But there is plenty left to keep me eager for the next case.
The books in this series work with an excruciatingly slow buildup. A police procedural carried out by an outsider. Investigations that can only be carried out by someone free of the corruption and politics of the police. The slowness of these investigations works because Makana is such a complex and fascinating character. A Sudanese refugee living in exile in Cairo. Cairo itself forms the other reason why this story is so compelling. The action and violence in CITY OF JACKALS is sparse, and brutally effective as part of the story. The plot works its way through with meticulous precision and the conclusion ties up many loose ends. I had hoped to see more progress on the backstory (when will we learn the fate of Makana's missing daughter?). But there is plenty left to keep me eager for the next case.
February 10, 2017
My favourite novel so far in the makana investigations ,a severed head washes up on the bank of the Nile and makana feels impelled to investigate as well as searching for a missing student ,excellent.
April 18, 2016
City of Jackals is an intelligent crime thriller set in Cairo, Egypt. This is the 5th book in the Makana Mystery series and Mr. Bilal continues to enthrall me. The marriage of a mystery with the political and social unrest that lead to the Arab Spring is brilliant; the characters, the setting, the history - this series keeps getting better.
I received an ARC compliments of Bloomsbury Publishing and Goodreads for my honest review.
When the book is released, I plan to buy a copy for my e reader.
I received an ARC compliments of Bloomsbury Publishing and Goodreads for my honest review.
When the book is released, I plan to buy a copy for my e reader.
Read
August 4, 2016When I say that I'm finished, I mean that I quit. Like countless other novels, this one also has a washed-out detective at the centre. Unfortunately, the novel is tjoroughly outdated, and the present world, threatened by Daesh and sundry megalomaniacs, has no space for this humourless volume of genteel intrigue. Besides, Cairo may make an exotic setting for some readers, but I didn't like it. Above all, I didn't like the investigation at the University, at all.
No. I quit. If I feel like reading thrillers, I would stick to Matthew Reilly and Preston& Child, thank you very much.
No. I quit. If I feel like reading thrillers, I would stick to Matthew Reilly and Preston& Child, thank you very much.
August 4, 2016
Although published in UK in 2016 actually set around 2004 after Iraq War so a little dated context wise.
For 80% of the book a very interesting well paced book providing context to the Sudan crisis as well as an insight into Egypt under Mujubarak.
It, however, has a very disappointng ending which feels rushed and lacks credibility. Up to then all characters had acted in line with their character but suddenly they change.
The tragic ending for Moursard is well done but not the scenes at the Institute which are out of kilter with most of the novel even in the way they are written.....
For 80% of the book a very interesting well paced book providing context to the Sudan crisis as well as an insight into Egypt under Mujubarak.
It, however, has a very disappointng ending which feels rushed and lacks credibility. Up to then all characters had acted in line with their character but suddenly they change.
The tragic ending for Moursard is well done but not the scenes at the Institute which are out of kilter with most of the novel even in the way they are written.....
February 9, 2020
This elegantly plotted, Investigator Makana mystery,set, like # 1 - 4 , in modern Cairo, has an international angle, as it entails a slew of countries -- Egypt, Sudan, Israel, USA -- and their political and cultural interests. Makana is a northern Sudanese exile, former detective, living on a ramshackle houseboat in Cairo. He's hired to find a missing boy. Significant to the story is the sad plight of Sudanese refugees in Cairo; we discover the link between that and the fate of the missing boy. A fascinating narrative!
August 9, 2016
Very slow ans confusing. I didn't have the patience to finish it
July 17, 2016
The book started slow...and stayed that way. Finally, I skipped to the last few chapters to find out what the heck this mystery was all about. Very weak plot line.
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August 1, 2016North Sudanese exile in Cairo, Makana, investigates a disappeared college student and looks for the body to go with the head of a South Sundanese found by a local fisherman
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