Helpful Score: 1
I am a fan of Barbara Nadel's Inspector Ikmen series. She always finds inventive settings within Turkey and this book is no exception, bringing readers to Eastern Turkey on the border of Syria and close to the influences of Afghanistan and Iraq. The past is blended with the modern day invasion of Iraq by the Americans through characters descended from the great cultures in the Mesopotamian plain which override the current arbitrary borders. The role of Inspector Suleyman is increased to more than 1/2 of the story, as he learns to face his family's descendency from royalty in the Ottoman court while investigating an escape from an Istanbul prison of a vicious murderer and drug dealer related to a powerful clan from the East. For me, it was a page turner, and I both wanted to find out what happens next and did not want it to end.
