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Firebird
The murder in Cairo of Dr al-Ghali, Egyptian-born adviser to the US President, brought both the local police and the FBI to the scene. Feisty, country-born Lieutenant Sami is paired with the FBI agent, arrogant, attractive Daisy Brooke, with her degree in middle eastern studies from California.
The only thing the dying man said was ‘Firebird’.
The explosive mix of character and national interest was fuelled by the discovery at the murder scene of an amulet traced to the Sanusiya Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Muslim sect thought to have disappeared at the turn of the century. The Sanusiya appear to have been involved in the excavation in the Western Desert of a remarkable site where Camyses III, King of Persia, and his vast army, armour and gold bullion, disappeared in a powerful sandstorm. And the words Operation Firebird seem enough to have every door slammed against you… The activities of a renegade group of Americans, apparently working for a secret organisation, of a strange Bedouin woman, always present just before violence occurs, and of the US Embassy and the various elements of Cairo police, make Sami and Daisy’s investigations both difficult and dangerous.
The combination of Egyptian myth and history with contemporary politics and violence, the author’s deep and authoritative knowledge of the peoples and places of Egypt, the strength of the storytelling and characters make this, as it did his first novel, The Eye of Ra, a fascinating thriller.
The only thing the dying man said was ‘Firebird’.
The explosive mix of character and national interest was fuelled by the discovery at the murder scene of an amulet traced to the Sanusiya Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Muslim sect thought to have disappeared at the turn of the century. The Sanusiya appear to have been involved in the excavation in the Western Desert of a remarkable site where Camyses III, King of Persia, and his vast army, armour and gold bullion, disappeared in a powerful sandstorm. And the words Operation Firebird seem enough to have every door slammed against you… The activities of a renegade group of Americans, apparently working for a secret organisation, of a strange Bedouin woman, always present just before violence occurs, and of the US Embassy and the various elements of Cairo police, make Sami and Daisy’s investigations both difficult and dangerous.
The combination of Egyptian myth and history with contemporary politics and violence, the author’s deep and authoritative knowledge of the peoples and places of Egypt, the strength of the storytelling and characters make this, as it did his first novel, The Eye of Ra, a fascinating thriller.
371 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
11 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Michael Asher
56 books64 followersMichael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, and notable desert explorer who has covered more than 30,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in Sudan.
Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s.
He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English.
In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979.
The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s.
He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English.
In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979.
The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 15, 2016
When I started reading this I thought I was reading a thriller. Well, it is a thriller, but thrillers overlap with a lot of other genres. So, what kind of thriller is this one? It starts out with a murder and the police are called in to investigate, so it seemed that I had a murder mystery. Then it is suggested that a ghoul commited the murder. It is not clear, though, whether the ghoul is a literal ghoul or if this is only part of the background of the story that includes uneducated and superstitious people. If it is the former then this story is either a horror story or an urban fantasy. If it is the latter then I am back to a murder mystery with an exotic setting. It turns out that it is neither. I got about three quarters through the book before I figured out what genre of literature it really is. It turns out to be solidly science fiction. How did I figure out that it was science fiction? If I told you that I would be giving you a spoiler. So I will decline and let you find out for yourself. I assure you, though, that the story taken as a whole is a quite delightful science fiction thriller with plenty of action, murder and intrigue.
June 23, 2019
Both books of the series, The Eye of RA and this one can be turned into great movies. They have everything. Ghouls, aliens, Egyptian history, science fiction, desert tribes, romance, myths, that feeling of adventure. They make me long for a desert life like Hawazims. One star less for the hurried ending. A story like this needs 200 more pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this ride.
What I liked most about the book was the atmosphere created by the author. At times, I could almost feel the sand and head.
The language was easy to read and fast paced. I wish more detail was provided on some of the characters, but it's not a deal breaker.
A strongly recommended read to those into thrillers, science fiction.
What I liked most about the book was the atmosphere created by the author. At times, I could almost feel the sand and head.
The language was easy to read and fast paced. I wish more detail was provided on some of the characters, but it's not a deal breaker.
A strongly recommended read to those into thrillers, science fiction.
May 7, 2015
Started as a thriller and ended up as fantasy. 5/10
February 2, 2018
This was a novel I picked up purely because it sounded interesting, knowing nothing about the author and with my experience of Egypt limited to my mother’s holiday photos from a few years ago. But I have a weakness for interesting sounding crime and thriller novels and an extreme weakness for free books, so finding this on my office’s giveaway bookshelf meant it covered all my favourite things.
Cairo detective Lieutenant Sammy Rashid has his day off interrupted by his superior, Colonel Hammoudi, following the murder of Dr Adam Ibram, who was working on the millennium celebrations to be held at Giza. The only obvious lead is an amulet belonging to an Islamic group that had been thought to have been disbanded for more than 80 years. Things make no sense and get worse when Rashid is assigned to work with FBI Special Agent Daisy Brooke, who he takes an instant dislike to and the feeling is entirely mutual. Then the CIA claim evidence and witnesses keep showing up dead and there is what appears to be a ghoul killing people with increasing regularity around Cairo and Rashid thinks he is being followed by a large figure dressed all in black.
There is enough intrigue here to fill several novels, and it took a little while for things to get going, as events seemed to be a bit all over the place. Then, just as things seemed to be nearing a conclusion and things were starting to make a little more sense, the novel took a complete turn, both in terms of plot and genre and became something entirely different and unexpected. In many ways, this reminded me of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and was equally as confusing and unwelcome here as it was in the film, seeming that the writer had two ideas he couldn’t stretch into individual novels and so he welded them together, but did so clumsily enough that you can still see the join.
Sadly, this wasn’t the only issue I had with the book, as whilst the storyline had something going for it in being entirely unpredictable thanks to being largely ridiculous, the relationship between Daisy Brooke and Sammy Rashid followed entirely too predictable paths and events moved along at more or less the same pace as in any other thriller novel. It also appeared that Colonel Hammoudi was something of a magician, as he kept being left in particularly tricky situations, only to turn up at a later point with no explanation as to how he might have got away. It also seems that Asher has given some of his characters Egyptian and American heritages, so he can write in Americanisms rather than having to worry too much about how Egyptians speak and thus widen the potential audience for the novel. Whilst Asher is apparently an expert on the country and its history, it seems this doesn’t extend to their manner of speech.
However, this is by no means a bad novel, as the combination of predictability, the deus ex machina in the form of Hammoudi and the sudden plot and genre shift partway through means you can never be entirely sure what to expect. Whilst this is quite an unsettling feeling, it is at least memorable, although that may not turn out to be a good thing. It has left me with mixed feelings about how I feel about this novel and whether I would want to read anything else Asher has written, as whilst the pace of the novel is headlong, which I like, it often feels out of control, which I’m less keen on. It’s worth a look for the things that make it different; namely the setting, the detailed research and the plot twist, but less so for the unsettled feeling and predictable plot devices.
Cairo detective Lieutenant Sammy Rashid has his day off interrupted by his superior, Colonel Hammoudi, following the murder of Dr Adam Ibram, who was working on the millennium celebrations to be held at Giza. The only obvious lead is an amulet belonging to an Islamic group that had been thought to have been disbanded for more than 80 years. Things make no sense and get worse when Rashid is assigned to work with FBI Special Agent Daisy Brooke, who he takes an instant dislike to and the feeling is entirely mutual. Then the CIA claim evidence and witnesses keep showing up dead and there is what appears to be a ghoul killing people with increasing regularity around Cairo and Rashid thinks he is being followed by a large figure dressed all in black.
There is enough intrigue here to fill several novels, and it took a little while for things to get going, as events seemed to be a bit all over the place. Then, just as things seemed to be nearing a conclusion and things were starting to make a little more sense, the novel took a complete turn, both in terms of plot and genre and became something entirely different and unexpected. In many ways, this reminded me of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and was equally as confusing and unwelcome here as it was in the film, seeming that the writer had two ideas he couldn’t stretch into individual novels and so he welded them together, but did so clumsily enough that you can still see the join.
Sadly, this wasn’t the only issue I had with the book, as whilst the storyline had something going for it in being entirely unpredictable thanks to being largely ridiculous, the relationship between Daisy Brooke and Sammy Rashid followed entirely too predictable paths and events moved along at more or less the same pace as in any other thriller novel. It also appeared that Colonel Hammoudi was something of a magician, as he kept being left in particularly tricky situations, only to turn up at a later point with no explanation as to how he might have got away. It also seems that Asher has given some of his characters Egyptian and American heritages, so he can write in Americanisms rather than having to worry too much about how Egyptians speak and thus widen the potential audience for the novel. Whilst Asher is apparently an expert on the country and its history, it seems this doesn’t extend to their manner of speech.
However, this is by no means a bad novel, as the combination of predictability, the deus ex machina in the form of Hammoudi and the sudden plot and genre shift partway through means you can never be entirely sure what to expect. Whilst this is quite an unsettling feeling, it is at least memorable, although that may not turn out to be a good thing. It has left me with mixed feelings about how I feel about this novel and whether I would want to read anything else Asher has written, as whilst the pace of the novel is headlong, which I like, it often feels out of control, which I’m less keen on. It’s worth a look for the things that make it different; namely the setting, the detailed research and the plot twist, but less so for the unsettled feeling and predictable plot devices.
July 8, 2017
🌟My Rating🌟:3.5
.
This book had it all. The desert, an ancient secret, of course, the Great Pyramid, blood, flurry of bullets, the maddening chases, crypts and even a true to the 90's X-Files vibe with its own version of Mulder & Sully...
.
I had a little start up trouble with this book down the first few chapters but I'm not sure if it was due to me adjusting to the writing style, the somewhat slow starting momentum or if it's just my reading slump.
I abandoned the read and a few other books later (I was cured of my slump by now), I resumed my reading. I hadn't gotten too deep in for anything significant yet from the time I started, so I continued.
.
The book definitely started to pick up its pace and adapted a faster, dangerous & thrilling turn almost halfway through and I was glad I stuck with it and didn't give up. The plot had a twist every time I thought I had a leg up on it and got it all worked out. It definitely went from my expectations of a classic Ancient Egyptian curse story to Ancient Aliens very quickly and that was a good thing. I didn't see that coming! At all!
.
The author was brilliant enough to master and skillfully use the classic distraction technique to mislead the readers' perception up until very close to the finale or the big reveal which wasn't something I had found many authors were capable of pulling off in almost every thriller & mystery themed book/novel I've read with the exception of Dan Brown.
.
The writing style was true to the 90's probably because it was written in the 90's and so was loaded with 90's slangs and style. If you're unaware of how things worked some 17 years ago, you may find yourself a little stuck with some slangs here and there which may cause trouble in making sense of the meaning. However, most of the time, it had enough contextual clues to let you know exactly what the slang word might mean & what they're talking about. So, not too much trouble there. If you still have any issues, keep an online dictionary or Google on hand to look it up.
.
It had just enough amount of the whole raggedy bloodshed and blasting bullets to keep me on edge but not too much to overwhelm or to lead to a loss of interest. But, be warned, there's a fair amount. If you're not one for shootouts, just skim through I suppose.
.
All in all, not at all a bad read though you'll have to brace yourself and power through the slower first few chapters till the mystery really kicks off. Beyond that point, it's unputdownable...
.
This book had it all. The desert, an ancient secret, of course, the Great Pyramid, blood, flurry of bullets, the maddening chases, crypts and even a true to the 90's X-Files vibe with its own version of Mulder & Sully...
.
I had a little start up trouble with this book down the first few chapters but I'm not sure if it was due to me adjusting to the writing style, the somewhat slow starting momentum or if it's just my reading slump.
I abandoned the read and a few other books later (I was cured of my slump by now), I resumed my reading. I hadn't gotten too deep in for anything significant yet from the time I started, so I continued.
.
The book definitely started to pick up its pace and adapted a faster, dangerous & thrilling turn almost halfway through and I was glad I stuck with it and didn't give up. The plot had a twist every time I thought I had a leg up on it and got it all worked out. It definitely went from my expectations of a classic Ancient Egyptian curse story to Ancient Aliens very quickly and that was a good thing. I didn't see that coming! At all!
.
The author was brilliant enough to master and skillfully use the classic distraction technique to mislead the readers' perception up until very close to the finale or the big reveal which wasn't something I had found many authors were capable of pulling off in almost every thriller & mystery themed book/novel I've read with the exception of Dan Brown.
.
The writing style was true to the 90's probably because it was written in the 90's and so was loaded with 90's slangs and style. If you're unaware of how things worked some 17 years ago, you may find yourself a little stuck with some slangs here and there which may cause trouble in making sense of the meaning. However, most of the time, it had enough contextual clues to let you know exactly what the slang word might mean & what they're talking about. So, not too much trouble there. If you still have any issues, keep an online dictionary or Google on hand to look it up.
.
It had just enough amount of the whole raggedy bloodshed and blasting bullets to keep me on edge but not too much to overwhelm or to lead to a loss of interest. But, be warned, there's a fair amount. If you're not one for shootouts, just skim through I suppose.
.
All in all, not at all a bad read though you'll have to brace yourself and power through the slower first few chapters till the mystery really kicks off. Beyond that point, it's unputdownable...
October 4, 2018
In my review of the first book of this series, I stated that I love the TV show Ancient Aliens and that I was more than please to see that the book tread similar grounds, but I'm a bit less please with this second book. Again the author shows a great knowledge of ancient Egyptian history and write a very good thriller action/adventure. It's the science-fiction/alien, part that was less present in this second book that made me appreciated it less. The last 15% of the book is very sci-fi like with great Ancient Aliens stuff and made the book in tune with the first one, but I would have liked more of it. Other than that, the story is intense, well paced and well research.
December 31, 2025
I was very torn over this book. I love Michael Asher and have previously enjoyed some of his other work, most notably Eye of Ra. This book was a book of two halves. The first half was set in Cairo and suffered from being dated in its views, I didn't enjoy it and was on the verge of giving up. 2 stars for part 1. And then things took a turn. The second half moves out to the desert and this is where Michael Asher's writing excels. His experience shines through and the book picked up the pace for me. Part 2 was a 4 star. So overall I gave it 3 stars and I'm glad I stuck with it.
It was nice to finish it on New Year's Eve, the day the action in the book finishes too.
It was nice to finish it on New Year's Eve, the day the action in the book finishes too.
December 24, 2017
Story kept you guessing. No one was really who you thought they were.
November 11, 2013
It has a lot of plot twists, it ended up being a bit too far fetched but it was still good.
I liked the characters. There were a number of times where some things are explained in a hurry, making me think that this was a book in a series, and definitely not the last one. It seems that the first book is 'The Eye of Ra' - not that you'd find that fact mentioned anywhere on this book.
I liked the characters. There were a number of times where some things are explained in a hurry, making me think that this was a book in a series, and definitely not the last one. It seems that the first book is 'The Eye of Ra' - not that you'd find that fact mentioned anywhere on this book.
Read
July 30, 2012Too farfetched for my tastes.
February 10, 2013
ending was stupid. rest was good
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews