Customer Reviews

A Grave in Gaza (Omar Yussef Mysteries)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As someone raised in the Arab world and a fan of the crime genre, I'd long been awaiting something like Rees' first Omar Yussef mystery, last year's The Collaborator of Bethlehem. That debut wasn't flawless, but on the whole, was a very promising start to the Palestine/Israel-set series. Now 50-something former alcoholic Omar Yussef returns for another mystery, this time in Gaza. Employed as a principal and schoolteacher in a U.N. refugee school on the West Bank, the story finds him accompanying his Swedish boss on an inspection tour of U.N. schools in Gaza.

Upon entering Gaza, they are joined by a Scottish U.N. security officer, ex-soldier James Cree. Almost instantly, the trio are plunged into the confusing briar patch of Gaza politics, as they take on the case of a local U.N. schoolteacher who has been arrested by one of the several local police/military/intelligence forces. This also coincides with large meeting of Palestinian bigwigs and power brokers, providing an excuse for Omar Yussef's friend from Bethlehem, Brigadier Khamis Zeydan to be on hand, along with his mysterious local fixer, Sami. Zeydan warns his friend and the U.N. men that everything in Gaza is connected, and if you start tugging at one case, you'll find yourself unraveling all kind of things best left untouched.

Of course they continue in the face of his warning and are soon embroiled in a very complicated power-play between various Gaza factions. The story becomes increasingly ruthless and violent, and as in the previous book, those who do not want to face the reality of Palestinian factionalism, pervasive corruption, and intercinine bloodshed, will find this a trying read. The one main flaw in the book is one I've encountered in other series set in unusual places, and that is overexplaining. The problem facing the knowledgeable or native author is that they know all the ins and outs of their setting, but the reader will not. So, the simplest solution is to involve some kind of foreign characters (here, the two U.N. men), who act as stand-ins for the Western reader, and provide some kind of pretext for other native characters to deliberately explain things to them. In a very real sense, Omar Yussef is an outsider here as well, and the story depends a little too much on fixer Sami arranging things. Another minor flaw is that it's often unclear who is speaking in what language. This is actually somewhat important to the story, since the Swede speaks no Arabic, the Scot a little, and Omar Yussef is supposed to act as translator. However, in many of the meetings throughout the book, I had to stop and reread to figure out who could understand what portions of the conversation.

Despite these various quibbles, the book is another solid entry in a series that doesn't shy away from the ugly realities of life as a Palestinian. Crammed with details from the personal (such as food, family, and daily life) to the political, it offers a perspective of Gaza one simply can't get from news accounts.

Matt Rees' second Omar Yussef book will not disappoint fans of The Collaborator of Bethlehem, nor anyone interested in learning a little about the small battles Palestinians must fight every day just to survive. As in both his first novel and his earlier non-fiction book about the area, Cain's Field, Rees, thrifty with words, gives us a multi-layered and nuanced view of the world he depicts. Rees' Gaza is controlled by gangsters masquerading as politicians, where few good deeds go unpunished and good people try their best to cope. Unable though trying to bring about much good, Omar Yussef, the book's protagonist, instead pursues truth, and on the way finds that and irony. I do not want to give away the story, but I'll vouch that is a page turner that will please both mystery and Middle East book fans.

In the early pages of Matt Beynon Rees' new book, "A Grave in Gaza," one its characters observes that in the political and social devastation of today's Gaza territory "there is no single, isolated crime (here). Each one is linked to many others...when you touch one of them, it sets off reverberations that will be felt by powerful people, ruthless people." This is expressed as a friendly warning to the book's protagonist, Omar Yussuf Sirhan (Abu Ramiz), the principled teacher turned-detective, who travels to Gaza from the West Bank on a routine school inspection and finds himself trying to save first an imprisoned Palestinian whistleblower and very quickly after, his friend and kidnapped UN colleague, Magnus Wallender. Driven by personal decency and a sense of moral outrage, Omar Yussuf plunges into a labyrinth of gang warfare and dueling warlords on behalf of his colleagues and almost loses his own liberty and life.
Author Rees deftly uses Omar Yussuf's pursuit of his colleagues' liberation to take a hard look at the pervasive corruption and physical degeneration that characterize life in Gaza for all those trapped in that small territory. Rees enhances his novel with impressive explanations of the history of the area and, more interestingly, with one wonderful character study after another. The author's graphic and continuing description of the ever-present dust storms and what they do the human disposition and the physical landscape, are highly effective and extremely discomforting. As intricate and good as the plot is in this novel, the character studies and descriptions of the place are even better. This is an insightful and wise book that is rich with wonderful writing. Highly recommended.

This second in Rees' series featuring the dogged 50-something former alcoholic Omar Yussef finds the Palestinian history teacher accompanying two UN officials - a Swede and a Scot - on a school inspection in Gaza. But they never get to the inspections.

One of their UN teachers, who also teaches at the university, has been arrested for collaboration, a death-penalty charge, with the penalty likely to come before the trial. The teacher's actual crime? He has accused the university of selling degrees to the security services, of which there are several factions.

Rees knows Palestinian politics, corruption, and ruthlessness and soon plunges the reader into this bewildering, hopeless mess of power struggles and intrigue. Though the first murder does not take place for more than 100 pages, the growing tension provides plenty of suspense. Inevitably, the tension explodes. Omar Yussef, acting as translator, go-between and investigator, fed up with Palestinian factionalism and corruption, finds himself at the center of a violent vortex.

Rees, who lives in Jerusalem, paints a portrait of Gaza even more hopeless than the one you might construct from news accounts. From vicious dust storms to righteous thugs, the place teems with misery. But family remains at the core of ordinary life, with food and hospitality providing dignity and comfort.

Deeply atmospheric and politically knowledgeable, Rees' novels are eye-opening page-turners.

I am half-way through this novel and I must wax ecstatic. As a counter-point I have just finished my most disappointing and dismal read of the last quarter century, to wit; Randy Wayne White's HUNTER's MOON. I have already reviewed that tome with a blowtorch so there is no need to re-iterate. Suffice it to say that I hope good ole boy Randy has retreated to tending his rum bar in Sanibel Island and resumed his career as a Tarpon fishing guide. I am sure he must admit that he is not a man of letters and should take up an instrument that has a beer tap or fish hook on the end of it. Old Doc Ford must be put out to fiction pasture.
Lest I digress A GRAVE IN GAZA is a strong second edition in the Omar Yussef series. This unlikely hero jumps fully formed from the opening pages. He picks up where he left off in the introductory work in the series THE COLLABERATOR OF BETHLEHEM. That was a fine work. The climactic scene takes place in the cave where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. How cool is that geography for a page turner? However MBR's voice has grown steadier and he has honed his craft to a fine edge. As an intrepid armchair traveler who likes to ingest his culture through the medium of potboilers I commend MBR. This work grabbed me from my first scan of the map of Gaza. The characters are deftly drawn . The plot is intricate mirroring current political intricacies in Gaza. This work has brought meaning to the headlines I am reading in my morning paper. I am mid-book and looking forward to picking it up this hot, languid summer Sunday afternoon.

#2 Omar Yussef Sirhan mystery set in the Middle East, this time in Gaza where Omar Yussef has gone with a UN delegation to inspect a school there. He is a history teacher and the principal at a UN school in Bethlehem, his hometown, so the other delegates feel he will have valuable observations. Their visit starts off on a troubling note--one of the teachers at the school has been arrested, not for his school work, but because he also worked part-time as a university lecturer and apparently spoke out against the university.

In a short time, Omar finds himself in a sticky, complicated political situation with warring factions pulling strings behind the scenes. He desperately wants to help the imprisoned man, especially after meeting his family. When one of the UN delegates is kidnapped, Omar has no idea who could be behind it, with equally corrupt security groups vying for power on the war-torn Gaza strip. He isn't even sure the kidnapping is related to the teacher's imprisonment--it may be some other totally different incident between these various powerful men. His friend, the police chief of Bethelem, is in Gaza for a convention and Omar is forced to rely on him and his bodyguard, Sami, who know the ins and outs of Gaza politics much better than he does, although he doesn't fully trust them.

A complicated and at times ugly (and probably realistic) view of this area, the culture, the reality of existence there. The book is written in an easy to read style, with a believable and likable main character, although it isn't always easy to understand him from a cultural standpoint. Sometimes he accepts things that to me seem just horrible as a matter of course, but I'm sure that's due to the vast cultural gulf between us. I have really enjoyed this series to date and will definitely be continuing on.

This book definitely kept me entertained with several new twists and turns. I have a hard time finishing books, but with this one I was interested through the end. Omar Yussef is very persistant in his search for truth after a fellow professor was arrested for "spying". As he attempts to get his friend released, Omar uncovers a plot of corruption in Gaza much larger than it initially seems. Murders, kidnappings, threats and smuggling (all based upon real events) are all intertwined and come to light as Omar uncovers more and more about his friend's arrest.

Rees was a journalist for Time in Jerusalem where he currently lives. He does a great job of introducing the Middle Eastern lifestyle, including the strong religious influence, while keeping readers entertained with his novel.

I rated this book 4 stars instead of 5 because it is hard to follow so many characters when they have more than one name. Omar Yussef is also referred to as Abu Ramiz. This is the same for many characters in the book. Apart from that, this book is well written and the suspense kept me entertained right up until the end.

Murder mysteries, as a genre, are interesting stories in a fairly unique fashion. Most are simply about a killing or killings, and the aftermath. Some, however, incorporate setting almost as one of the characters in the story. This was especially true in Matt Beynon Rees' debut detective novel, The Collaborator of Bethlehem, and it's again true in A Grave in Gaza. This time, though, the on-edge tension of the West Bank, where everyone's quiet while waiting for the other shoe or bomb to drop, is replaced by the dusty, hot, dry hell that the Gaza Strip has become. Rees' main character, Omar Yussef, has gone to Gaza with Magnus Wallender to meet with a Scottish U.N. official named James Cree. They're on a fact-finding mission to inspect schools in Gaza, but when one of the teachers at the local university is arrested, before they even begin their inspection tour, they conclude that this, too, must be looked into. The results aren't what any of them expected, and there's a fair bit of violence and confusion before things are straightened out.

I really enjoyed this second detective novel featuring Omar Yussef. The character's interesting, well-rounded, and believable. This mystery is well-done and intelligent, and the setting especially believable and palpable. If you're interested in the Middle East, this is a worthwhile book.

I wont give a long or detailed review - only say that these are some of the smartest novels I have read. Mysteries? Yes, the protagonist is a "detective", the narratives revolve around crime and murder. But all of the mystery genre cliches are gone. No stereotypical characters, no predictable plots or settings. Just rich characters, spot-on historical and cultural detail and eloquent prose. Simply great reading!

Omar Yussef Sirhan, a 50-ish schoolteacher in a Palestinian refugee camp, travels from Bethlehem with UN observer Magnus Wallender to inspect the UN schools in the Gaza Strip. Upon arrival they learn that a UN teacher has been arrested on spying charges after making public the university's policy of selling degrees to the secret police. When Wallender is kidnapped as an exchange for an imprisoned murderer, Omar Yussef is caught in a confusing maze of torture, traditional ideas of tribal revenge, rival government gangs armed with machine guns, and smuggled missiles. Omar Yussef moves through this dust-choked and thoroughly corrupt atmosphere in somewhat of a daze, yet he manages to hold on to his humanity and ideals of justice as he eventually ties all the threads together. The richly detailed prose creates a sympathetic portrait of a violent and wounded society as it brings this compelling setting to life. (2nd in the series following The Collaborator of Bethlehem)
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