Reviewer Michelle Kaye Malsbury:
Michelle was born in Champaign, IL. Currently, she resides in Asheville, NC
and is in her second year of doctoral studies at Nova Southeastern
University in Ft. Lauderdale with specialization/concentration in
conflict resolution and peace studies. She has over six hundred
articles published on the web and one book published thus far with
many more in the wings. Hobbies include; reading, writing, music, and
playing with her Australian Cattle Dog, Abu.
Author: Samuel Marquis,Author
Author: Samuel Marquis,Author
There are many characters to this war-torn tale. Three of the top ones are; General Rommel, Hekmat Fahmy, and David Sterling. Much of the story takes place in Cairo as WWII is ramping up and the Germans and their loyal supporters are marching across the Africa and elsewhere. In every camp there are spies for either side. Sometimes they are discovered and at other times it takes a while before anyone can catch on.
General Rommel is largely acclaimed as the best and brightest during this timeframe as his war acumen seems to be spot on. David Sterling is a young man who is also a rising star because he has a brother who was in a high diplomatic post, both join the SAS and prove themselves to be rather invaluable to the cause. Hekmat Fahmy is the best belly dancer on earth according to those who have had the pleasure of seeing her in person.
Two other gentlemen, Eppler and Sandstette, are new at the spy game, but have been enlisted in this precarious and perilous occupation to help the Germans win. They manage, through no small miracle, to get to Cairo where Eppler knew Ms. Fahmy previously. They were romantically attached. He left her without any word as to why and she was very much in love with him so seeing him again brings back a lot of memories, good and bad. They manage to mend their friendship and side-step the ruined romance because she is now involved with another man, a British Officer. Ms. Fahmy does have a lot of allegiance to Eppler regardless of how hurt she was by their past.
Eppler and Sandstette, acting as playboys in Cairo, were supposed to report back to Rommel each night at midnight and have yet been able to make contact. They do not know that their messages have been intercepted and that their lives may be in danger.
As the war heats up and the people select one side or the other to align themselves with the plot gets stickier and stickier. Will Fahmy find out that her ex-lover is a spy? Will Eppler and Sandstette be found out?
I really enjoyed reading this book. It took me a while to assimilate all of the various characters, but once I did I fell in love with them and could not put the book down. Read it, enjoy it. I did!