Yeah! finally finished Dead Man’s Share by Yasmina Khandra. Dead Man’s Share is the 14th book read of 2010 and set in Algeria is the fifth country visited in the Geography Reading Challenge! The book is an Inspector Brahim Llob mystery and this is the first book I have read by this author. The story starts slowly as Llob is provided information concerning a serial killer known as SNP who is about to be released from prison and is likely to kill again so Llob sets up a surveillance of him. In the meantime his Lieutenant Lino is in love with a women well beyond his means and as he borrows money and skips work to keep up with her he is causing problems for Llob. When she suddenly goes back to her former lover the wealthy Haj Thobane Lino is destroyed and when Thobane’s driver is killed in an attempt to kill Thobane. Lino’s gun is found at the site! The rest of the book revolves around Llob’s attempt to uncover what happened that night to free his friend. The investigation leads to Algeria’s revolutionary past!
Overall the book was very good and was much more enjoyable over the second half of the book! I enjoyed Khandra’s writing and the character of Brahim Llob. Yasmina Khandra is a pseudonym for Mohammed Moulessehoul a former high ranking officer in the Algerian Army who went into exile in France in 2000. An example of his writing:
In Algiers, all you have to do to go from one century to another is cross the street. And when it falls to you to leave the city, try not to be surprised if your car occasionally turns into a time machine.
I give the book 3 out of 5 stars only because of the slow moving first part of the book. Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Algiers more than the trip to South Africa. And it amazes me that the birth of free Algeria occurred in the 1950’s! I will definitely look for more from this author in the future!