Double Blank

For its brevity, this is crime fiction on a grand scale. Inspector, rather, Superintendent Llob of the Algiers police finds himself on the trail of a diabolical scheme played out against the political turmoil of the country whose independence from France he once fought for. Told with all the grittiness of hard-boiled detective fiction, this tale takes readers from one end of the social spectrum to the other - the grinding poverty of the crime-infested slums to the grandiose life styles of the filthy rich. The plot is engaging enough and its predictability is continually undercut by a fast-forward narrative style that propels the reader from scene to scene, often omitting the plot developments building up to them. More entertaining is Khadra's mastery of the genre itself - the feuding investigative agencies of the police, the ageing rogue cop as hero, the trading of insults among professional colleagues and their suspects, the gruesome crime scenes, the seductive temptress and ruthless villains, the caricatures of humanity ranging from dwarves to giants, the cynical narrator whose observing eye falls on everything that is beyond redemption. The pace is breathless, while finding room enough for social comment and digs at Islamist operatives. Grim but darkly humorous.

This is a short detective story by the Algerian army officer who disguised his identity by writing under a woman's name, Yasmina Khadra. Khadra produced three of these Superintendant Llob stories in the late 90s: they take place in modern Algiers, and are noir fiction with a real bite, because the villains are often terrorists armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers. In this entry in the series, Llob is confronted with the murders of several people. First, an old acquaintance who doesn't remember him is killed, then a financier, and soon after one of his informants. As the story progresses, Llob must confront political corruption, violence, and a confusing array of villains, each more annoying and disgusting than the last. Fortunately, the sidekick who was killed in Morituri has been replaced by a giant of an ex-soldier who seems to punch everyone and take on the world singlehandedly when needed. I enjoyed this book, and would only repeat my one negative comment from before: they should have grouped all three of the Superintendant Llob books together. Together they'd be about 400 pages, less than a Dan Brown novel, and much more appealing together than separate.