Khadra,
Yasmina. Double Blank. Toby. April 2005. 144p. tr. from French
by Aubrey Botsford. ISBN 1-59264-119-9. pap. $12.95. Mystery.
Superintendent Brahim Llob of the Algerian police force sets
out to solve the murder of Ben Ouda, a retired diplomat who
had earlier asked Llob, himself an author, for help in writing
a book about the Islamic fundamentalist violence plaguing
the nation. As bodies pile up, Llob’s investigation leads him
not only into the more squalid zones of Algiers but also into the homes and retreats
of the wealthy. With the help of Ewegh Seddig, a Terminator-sized officer formerly
of the National Police Academy, and Lino, a pony-tailed lieutenant quick with
a quip, the superintendent tracks down the assassins involved in Ouda’s
execution and then the men behind a plot that threatens the democratic survival
of Algeria itself. Filled with startling metaphors and a poetic yet stark evocation
of a violent world, Khadra’s crime story is a fitting sequel to Morituri,
the first Inspector Llob mystery. Khadra is the pen name of an ex-Algerian army
officer who also wrote the highly praised The Swallows of Kabul. Recommended
for libraries where police procedurals are popular.