Tangled Web UK Review February 2007
Strangers by
Carla Banks
hbk out January 07
Published by HarperCollins
at £17.99
Though there are deaths and violent crimes aplenty, this is not a
conventional whodunit or police procedural novel. Most of it takes place
in Saudi Arabia, where the prologue describes a public beheading in the
main square of Riyadh. Much of the book is concerned with the status of
women in the strictest of the Muslim countries and though it seems that
the author is making strenuous efforts to be impartial, the tenor of her
sympathies is clear.
Roisin, a language teacher hailing from Tyneside, meets a paediatric
pathologist Joe Massey in London and after a short courtship, marries
him and goes off to Saudi where he has been working in the main hospital.
She gets a job as English tutor in the university, but increasing
restrictions on her activities gradually squeeze her out. The consequences
of her husband's mysterious activities outside his work become more
acute and the claustrophobic life-style of being enclosed in the European
enclave become more burdensome. They are on the point of giving up
and returning to Britain when Joe meets a violent end. The action
changes to London and Newcastle, where the long arm of Saudi still
operates.
The writing is excellent and the description of ex-patriate life in such a
difficult environment is superbly portrayed, though it is not a cheerful book.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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