Kingdom of Strangers: A Novel (A Katya Hijazi and Nayir Sharqi Novel) [Hardcover]

Zoë Ferraris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2012 | Series: A Katya Hijazi and Nayir Sharqi Novel

A secret grave is unearthed in the desert revealing the bodies of 19 women and the shocking truth that a serial killer has been operating undetected in Jeddah for more than a decade.

However, lead inspector Ibrahim Zahrani is distracted by a mystery closer to home. His mistress has suddenly disappeared, but he cannot report her missing since adultery is punishable by death. With nowhere to turn, Ibrahim brings the case to Katya, one of the few women in the police department. Drawn into both investigations, she must be increasingly careful to hide a secret of her own.

Portraying the lives of women in one of the most closed cultures in the world, award-winning author Zoë Ferraris weaves a tale of psychological suspense around an elusive serial killer and the sinister forces trafficking in human lives in Saudi Arabia.

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR CITY OF VEILS:

"A formidably talented writer....An adroitly plotted, fast-paced mystery....Ferraris's characters are compelling and utterly human." (Boston Globe Diane White )

"Smart and thoroughly entertaining....Tension is everywhere as Ferraris builds suspense." (Salon.com Sarah Weinman )

"Armchair travelers eager to learn about a remote culture without leaving the comfort (and safety!) of home are sure to find what they're looking for." (San Francisco Chronicle Malena Watrous )

"Every detail of this novel is exact and exciting....A riveting literary mystery that will hook readers with every sordid, fascinating, even heartwarming detail until the final page....A whopping good tale....Timely, exciting, urgent...not to be missed." (Roanoke Times Barbara Dickinson )

"A sensitive look at the life in the city of Jeddah. The novel has a strong sense of place-the author knows the territory....Ferraris has good feel for her two main characters and a beautiful sense of poetic timing....A reworking of a typical police procedural scene is brilliant." (Los Angeles Times Owen Hill )

About the Author

Zoë Ferraris moved to Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the first Gulf War to live with her then husband and his extended family of Saudi-Palestinian Bedouins. She has an MFA from Columbia University and is the author of two previous novels, Finding Nouf and City of Veils. She lives in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First edition (June 5, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780316074247
• ISBN-13: 978-0316074247
• ASIN: 0316074241
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Complex, contradictory and compelling May 21, 2012

By Keris Nine TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

There's a quote on the book cover from a Guardian review of City of Veils that makes a very perceptive observation about Zoë Ferraris' work. While her stories are great detective fiction in their own right, they are intrinsically linked to their Saudi Arabian setting - it's much more than just a colourful exotic background - the author managing through them to trace the roots of many of the crimes against women right back to the misuse of religion in a society with very different attitudes and values to Western civilisation.

That's even more the case in Kingdom of Strangers, which opens with the discovery of nineteen female bodies - all of them seemingly runaway immigrants not missed by anyone - uncovered in the sand dunes in the desert by Inspector Ibrahim Zahrani. The number nineteen also has mystical significance relating to the Quran and various other clues suggest further patterns, making this particular and unusual case of serial killing even more potentially explosive. While this is a strong central crime for investigation, Zoë Ferraris manages however to subtly show a much more extensive problem relating to the place of women within Saudi society through related cases and even through the everyday lives of her characters.

I say "subtly", but there's nothing subtle about the actual nature of the shocking treatment endured by women in Saudi society there, and indeed in some extreme cases of religious devotion, treatment that is even sanctioned and instigated by women themselves. What is subtle however is how the author manages to delve behind the veil of the burqa, mainly through Katya, a forensic scientist on the police force in an uncertain position in her life and career, and show that there is much more going on there than most men would like to believe. These incidents and insights are weaved brilliantly and realistically into the fabric of the main criminal investigation, deepening the meaning and relevance of the murders.

It's not uncommon to see the personal lives of recurring characters involved in their cases, but this aspect seems to be even more integrated into the overall narrative in the case of Ibrahim and Katya. Each of them necessarily have to keep secrets in their own personal lives due to the nature of Saudi and religious law, and their own circumstances show just how difficult this lack of openness can make the investigation of any serious crime. Kingdom of Strangers is therefore another strong work from Zoë Ferraris on every level. It's an intriguing serial killer murder investigation, it's a continuation of the development of genuinely interesting and evolving characters, it's revelatory of all kinds of sickness within Saudi society, but it also gets to the beauty of the people and the world they live in.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ferraris comes through again June 7, 2012

By invisiblgirl

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Zoe Ferraris has become one of my favourite authors - not only are her mysteries unpredictable and fresh enough to keep the pages turning, but she introduces us to a world that is, for many Westerners, completely foreign and shrouded in myth. Ferraris has tremendous respect for Saudi Arabia and Islam, and just as in her first two books, she shatters the myths and gives us an intimate view of everyday life.

In that respect, I have to disagree a bit with the first reviewer of this book - it is not about damning a whole society for its treatment of women. Rather, the book is about the people who live in that society and how much we share in common.

After the bodies are found, many of the police immediately assume that their serial killer must be a foreigner - a Saudi wouldn't do such a thing. This brings to mind the first reactions to the Oklahoma City bombing - until we learnt otherwise, we were sure that the terrorist was a madman from the Middle-East - an American wouldn't do such a thing. The same can be said of the treatment of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia - it is permitted because they are seen as different - as something less than people. (And Saudi Arabia hardly has a monopoly on cruelty toward foreign workers - whole vans of immigrants coming into the US have been abandoned in the southwestern desert, the workers locked up to die a horrible death.)

The message here is that the more we concentrate on our differences, the less we see one another as fellow human beings. Ultimately, it is this separation between us and them that allows us to do terrible things to one another. Zoe Ferraris tears down the wall and allows us to see the Saudis as people who are more like us than not.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating window into another culture June 9, 2012

By Kathleen Rogers

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have thoroughly enjoyed Zoe Ferraris's novels, particularly for the strong characterizations, and a glimpse into what is, to me, a really alien culture. I am very interested in how the continuing stories of Katya and Nayir and others are playing out, but I was less satisfied with Kingdom of Strangers as a policier than I was with the other two. Maybe it is because I am thoroughly sick of the serial killer trope. This one did not dwell on the sadism and psychosis of the killer as others in the genre do, but I found it a bit jumbled and not very compelling, in spite of the quite ornate series of crimes. That said, I still give it four stars, and highly recommend it. Also, a visit to the Zoe Ferraris website and blog is recommended, as she provides background information on how she came to write the books and links to blogs by Saudi women.