Cairo Gambit
Many of you will know of S. W. Perry as the author of the Jackdaw series of Elizabethan murder/mysteries, but his two latest books have been 20th-century thrillers (Berlin Duet and Cairo Gambit). Both are very good books, and Perry fans will be well rewarded by following him into his new era.
The link between the two books is Harry Taverner, British Secret Service officer. He has all the qualities of a superspy, except perhaps a certain sexual reticence, but he is not the central character in Cairo Gambit. This is Primrose (Prim) Nevenden, whose father, Archie, an oil company executive, has gone missing in the Middle East. Prim has not seen her father since childhood but nevertheless sets off impulsively to Cairo to search for him. The British Secret Service is also interested in Archie and sends Harry out to Cairo, where he and Prim team up for the quest.
The quest provides a strong story arc as it moves from Cairo to Palestine and then to the Sinai desert, peeling away the complex layers of Archie’s life. The story is set in 1938 when Britain was still the dominant power in the Middle East, although beset with troubles from Jewish and Arab terrorists and Egyptian nationalists. This is a well-crafted thriller building up to a dramatic climax, with a colourful cast of believable characters, both fictional and historical.
