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Anton Rider #3
The Devil's Oasis
All the treacherous intrigue of cosmopolitan Cairo and fiery drama of Rommel's desert war in Africa continue the stirring historical adventure of the masterly Bartle Bull's two previous novels, The White Rhino Hotel and A Cafe on the Nile. It is now 1942, and Nazi Germany stands at the height of its power. In North Africa the brilliant general Rommel's panzers threaten the Suez Canal, the Middle East's oil fields, and the trade route to Asia, but to win Egypt Rommel must first take the port of Tobruk and destroy the British fortress of Bir Hakeim. There, against the massive force of Rommel's Afrika Korps, a young English hussar named Wellington Rider fights beside the French Foreign Legion. Wellington's father, the professional hunter Anton Rider, is now operating as a desert commando and is engaged in the obliteration of Nazi air bases and petrol dumps. Not only has Anton's old friend Ernst von Decken, a German soldier of fortune, meanwhile become the enemy, but also Anton's estranged wife has entered into an affair with a Frenchman who supports Rommel's campaign. Alliances shift, loyalties deceive, espionage thrives, and peril lies as much in the dark corners of Cairo as it does in the desert night. "...after three volumes of nonstop action, eroticism and intrigue, we still care about what happens to ... Mr. Bull's extravagant cast."—Richard Bernstein, New York Times "A World War II page-turner that's part Masterpiece Theatre, part Raiders of the Lost Ark, part Casablanca."—Washington Post
348 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
76 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Bartle Bull
19 books41 followersBartle Bull was born in London and educated at Harvard and at Magdalen College, Oxford. A student of the China coast since he first worked in Hong Kong over thirty years ago, he is a member of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. He is the author of Safari: A chronicle of Adventure and the novels The White Rhino Hotel, A Cafe on the Nile, and The Devil's Oasis.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 18, 2024
A good volume 3 but not as good as the first two - here the shortcomings of the author's prose style are far more evident in abrupt narrative shifts and the main villain becomes a caricature in the way the ones in previous volumes weren't really.
February 28, 2025
The Devil's Oasis is the third novel in the Anton Rider series in which many of the characters from the earlier novels, along with some new ones, are given voice and form.
The story begins in Egypt in September 1939, when the news of Britain's declaration of war on Nazi Germany reaches Olivio Fonseca Alavedo. He's the diminutive and enterprising Goan, proprietor of the Cataract Cafe in Cairo, and a proud father of several daughters and a son. He is concerned for his longtime friends Anton Rider and his estranged wife Gwenn, who has taken up with a wily and arrogant French archeologist (Giscard de Neuville). Anton, who makes his living organizing and staging safaris for wealthy Westerners eager to experience the thrill of the hunt in the open spaces of Africa, has always had a bit of a nomadic spirit. While he continues to harbor a deep affection for his wife and is devoted to their 2 sons, Wellington and Denby, Anton has always been a rolling stone. Which is why he and Gwenn (now a practicing physician) have led largely separate lives for more than a decade. It seems that their shared love for each other and their sons isn't enough to make Anton settle for a more ordered existence with Gwenn.
The war figures prominently in the novel, spanning the years 1939 to 1942. Wellington, impatient to be a part of the action, forgoes university, to enlist in the Army. After receiving his training in England, he returns as part of a distinguished unit which later goes into action against the Italians in Libya and Western Egypt. Anton also finds himself caught up in the conflict after having been sought out by British officers in Cairo to join their ranks and use his considerable trekking and hunting skills to train and lead men on nocturnal missions deep inside enemy territory. During one of these actions, Anton encounters his old friend Ernst von Decken, who is now on the enemy side, wishing to settle scores with the British.
The tension at times in The Devil's Oasis is hot, often boiling over. The hazards and perils of Anton's work behind the lines is well told, as is Wellington's service alongside the Free French and French Foreign Legion in the defense of the fort Bir Hakeim during May and June 1942 when it seemed likely that Italo-German forces under the able leadership of General Erwin Rommel would triumph over British and Commonwealth Forces and succeed in moving into Egypt and gaining control of the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. All the while Olivio Alavedo has been involved in a number of intrigues centered around a rare archeological find he made in secret and the efforts of Gwen's lover, to claim Alavedo's find for his own and destroy him .
Simply put, this novel has all the hallmarks of a ripping yarn, with adventure, shifting alliances, romance, and high stakes espionage. And now, onward to the fourth (and final) novel of the series.
The story begins in Egypt in September 1939, when the news of Britain's declaration of war on Nazi Germany reaches Olivio Fonseca Alavedo. He's the diminutive and enterprising Goan, proprietor of the Cataract Cafe in Cairo, and a proud father of several daughters and a son. He is concerned for his longtime friends Anton Rider and his estranged wife Gwenn, who has taken up with a wily and arrogant French archeologist (Giscard de Neuville). Anton, who makes his living organizing and staging safaris for wealthy Westerners eager to experience the thrill of the hunt in the open spaces of Africa, has always had a bit of a nomadic spirit. While he continues to harbor a deep affection for his wife and is devoted to their 2 sons, Wellington and Denby, Anton has always been a rolling stone. Which is why he and Gwenn (now a practicing physician) have led largely separate lives for more than a decade. It seems that their shared love for each other and their sons isn't enough to make Anton settle for a more ordered existence with Gwenn.
The war figures prominently in the novel, spanning the years 1939 to 1942. Wellington, impatient to be a part of the action, forgoes university, to enlist in the Army. After receiving his training in England, he returns as part of a distinguished unit which later goes into action against the Italians in Libya and Western Egypt. Anton also finds himself caught up in the conflict after having been sought out by British officers in Cairo to join their ranks and use his considerable trekking and hunting skills to train and lead men on nocturnal missions deep inside enemy territory. During one of these actions, Anton encounters his old friend Ernst von Decken, who is now on the enemy side, wishing to settle scores with the British.
The tension at times in The Devil's Oasis is hot, often boiling over. The hazards and perils of Anton's work behind the lines is well told, as is Wellington's service alongside the Free French and French Foreign Legion in the defense of the fort Bir Hakeim during May and June 1942 when it seemed likely that Italo-German forces under the able leadership of General Erwin Rommel would triumph over British and Commonwealth Forces and succeed in moving into Egypt and gaining control of the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. All the while Olivio Alavedo has been involved in a number of intrigues centered around a rare archeological find he made in secret and the efforts of Gwen's lover, to claim Alavedo's find for his own and destroy him .
Simply put, this novel has all the hallmarks of a ripping yarn, with adventure, shifting alliances, romance, and high stakes espionage. And now, onward to the fourth (and final) novel of the series.
June 23, 2020
I enjoyed this 3rd in the series with its unusual cast of characters. It bogs down with the desert battles for me.
April 29, 2025
Lots of action and steamy stuff, which was fun, and an interesting place and time. I think I would have liked it better if I’d read the earlier books in the series and developed an appreciation for the various characters. I didn’t love how the author writes about one of the characters, who is a dwarf - a bit cringy.
February 16, 2019
Part of the series on Africa and the complex characters who left their marks there.
April 27, 2020
Recommended by Cheryle. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore...
August 27, 2024
This is a review for a re-read of Bartle Bull's "The Devil's Oasis."
I have to say it, I have enjoyed Bartle Bull's Anton Rider series much more on a re-read than I did the first time I read it. I've always enjoyed Bull's gift for romantic storytelling of a bygone age of British imperialism in Africa, but when I first read "The White Rhino Hotel," "Cafe on the Nile," and "The Devil's Oasis," I admit that I cringed a bit at books that seemed to be glorious tributes to Rudyard Kipling and other British jingoism. Heroes were heroes, villains were villains, supporting lackeys were supporting lackeys, and over all there loomed the Great White Hero.
I recognize now that I was being spectacularly unfair to Bull and his stories. While these books are clearly romances set in the ultra-romantic era of North Africa in the first half of the 20th century, Bull also injects far more nuance than I gave him credit for.
In "The Devil's Oasis," our heroes have survived the Great War and Italy's Ethiopian campaign. Once again, Anton Rider must suffer as his wife, Gwen, has an affair with a European unworthy of her charms . . . but Rider has earned it with his own failings as husband. Lord Penfold continues to be blissfully maintained by the dwarf master schemer and entrepreneur, Olivio Alavedo, who now has a new hotel on the Nile. And the German Ernst Von Dekken, married to the wealthy American Harriett, gets enlisted by Erwin Rommel into his Afrika Corps at the outset of World War II.
Oh, did I forget to mention - it's now time for the second global conflagration. And the next generation of heroes, including Rider's two sons and Alavedo's five daughters, is now emerging on the scene.
For the squeamish, please note that Bull revels in the sexy and the violent, so prudes will likely not enjoy this book. And if you're looking for revisionist history along the lines of "Django Unchained" (which I loved) so that a native African leads the fight against Rommel, you're not going to find it here.
But upon a re-read, this series is far more human than I had originally given it credit for. There are good people and bad people, but the good people are flawed, and the villains also have their own stories. Bull captures the chaos of war brilliantly, including describing how tough it would have been for a Frenchman in Africa at the outset of World War II - France had fallen and had two governments. What do you do? (Unfortunately for the Frenchman in Bull's novel, he chooses . . . poorly.)
Highly recommended for fans of high adventure.
I have to say it, I have enjoyed Bartle Bull's Anton Rider series much more on a re-read than I did the first time I read it. I've always enjoyed Bull's gift for romantic storytelling of a bygone age of British imperialism in Africa, but when I first read "The White Rhino Hotel," "Cafe on the Nile," and "The Devil's Oasis," I admit that I cringed a bit at books that seemed to be glorious tributes to Rudyard Kipling and other British jingoism. Heroes were heroes, villains were villains, supporting lackeys were supporting lackeys, and over all there loomed the Great White Hero.
I recognize now that I was being spectacularly unfair to Bull and his stories. While these books are clearly romances set in the ultra-romantic era of North Africa in the first half of the 20th century, Bull also injects far more nuance than I gave him credit for.
In "The Devil's Oasis," our heroes have survived the Great War and Italy's Ethiopian campaign. Once again, Anton Rider must suffer as his wife, Gwen, has an affair with a European unworthy of her charms . . . but Rider has earned it with his own failings as husband. Lord Penfold continues to be blissfully maintained by the dwarf master schemer and entrepreneur, Olivio Alavedo, who now has a new hotel on the Nile. And the German Ernst Von Dekken, married to the wealthy American Harriett, gets enlisted by Erwin Rommel into his Afrika Corps at the outset of World War II.
Oh, did I forget to mention - it's now time for the second global conflagration. And the next generation of heroes, including Rider's two sons and Alavedo's five daughters, is now emerging on the scene.
For the squeamish, please note that Bull revels in the sexy and the violent, so prudes will likely not enjoy this book. And if you're looking for revisionist history along the lines of "Django Unchained" (which I loved) so that a native African leads the fight against Rommel, you're not going to find it here.
But upon a re-read, this series is far more human than I had originally given it credit for. There are good people and bad people, but the good people are flawed, and the villains also have their own stories. Bull captures the chaos of war brilliantly, including describing how tough it would have been for a Frenchman in Africa at the outset of World War II - France had fallen and had two governments. What do you do? (Unfortunately for the Frenchman in Bull's novel, he chooses . . . poorly.)
Highly recommended for fans of high adventure.
February 12, 2012
The Devil’s Oasis is set mostly in Egypt in 1942 when Rommell's tanks are threatening to overrun strategic cities and capture the Suez Canal.
The dwarf Olivio Alavedo runs the Cataract Café aboard a barge on the Nile in Cairo, and counts among his friends individuals who are destined to be on different sides of the escalating conflict. One of them is Anton Rider, who is called on by the British to lead long range desert patrols. His estranged wife’s relationship with a Frenchman who appears to support the Free French, while passing on information to the Vichy authorities, causes problems not just for Anton, but for everyone working to keep the Germans at bay.
Bartle Bull’s novel is full of intrigue, including the sexual kind, and thrilling wartime campaign action. He evocatively captures the atmosphere of the North African landscapes, and has populated them with interesting characters whose lives are bound up in each other, for better or worse. But sooner or later, they all come back to Olivio and his Café, which is not always to the little man’s advantage.
I enjoyed this novel, although I found its various characters and their relationships confusing at first. However, my perseverance was rewarded, especially once the action picked up, and the level of intrigue escalated. The Devil’s Oasis is the third in a series that started with The White Rhino Hotel and continued in A Café on the Nile. This is the first one I've read, and I'm encouraged to read the others now.
The dwarf Olivio Alavedo runs the Cataract Café aboard a barge on the Nile in Cairo, and counts among his friends individuals who are destined to be on different sides of the escalating conflict. One of them is Anton Rider, who is called on by the British to lead long range desert patrols. His estranged wife’s relationship with a Frenchman who appears to support the Free French, while passing on information to the Vichy authorities, causes problems not just for Anton, but for everyone working to keep the Germans at bay.
Bartle Bull’s novel is full of intrigue, including the sexual kind, and thrilling wartime campaign action. He evocatively captures the atmosphere of the North African landscapes, and has populated them with interesting characters whose lives are bound up in each other, for better or worse. But sooner or later, they all come back to Olivio and his Café, which is not always to the little man’s advantage.
I enjoyed this novel, although I found its various characters and their relationships confusing at first. However, my perseverance was rewarded, especially once the action picked up, and the level of intrigue escalated. The Devil’s Oasis is the third in a series that started with The White Rhino Hotel and continued in A Café on the Nile. This is the first one I've read, and I'm encouraged to read the others now.
July 14, 2024
Another very good well written book taking place in Northern Africa.
March 18, 2013
I've just finished the 3 book series, Cafe on the Nile, White Rhino Hotel & The Devils Oasis. Altho I wouldn't normally read a book with a lot of war in it, I did find this interesting. I tended to quickly scan over the long, dragged-out description of the military equipment, maneuvers, etc., and that made this series tolerable for me. Actually, each book ended leaving me wishing there were another chapter to read. The Devils Oasis is the last book in this series & I wish there were another.
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October 6, 2015Interesting book! Set in North Africa during World War 2, the story centers around a powerful, wealthy, and clever dwarf. He lives in Cairo. I have read another with the same cast in this series, "Cafe on the Nile", and there is another before that I haven't seen... I am wondering if the character Tyrion from "Game of Thrones" was somewhat borrowed from this? Or vice versa. He is a VERY similar character. Great historical fiction. World war 2, what a nasty time.
October 11, 2010
He tries too hard to be a British soldier-of-fortune telling a hard-boiled story. The place and time period are well researched, but Bartle Bull writes as his name implys... overdone. Couldn't finish it.
July 2, 2009
Not even a cameo by a famous desert geomorphologist could save this all-too predictable story. All the ingredients but the recipe just falls flat
January 10, 2012
Just not up to the same standards as the first two in this trilogy.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews