The Unseen (The Sufi Mysteries Quartet)
10th-century Baghdad. The body of a murdered man is found, his wounds seemingly identical to those suffered by the martyr Abbas ibn Ali during the religious war, the Battle of Karbala, 200 years earlier. Was this murder an open attack on the Shia community or a strange coincidence?
Lead investigator, Ammar, is in no doubt. His more sceptical associate, Tein, is less convinced. And so, the investigation continues; opposing views trying to bring justice to a callous murder. Throughout, readers are fed sometimes-fascinating insights into the religious differences which divided the Muslim communities living more than 1000 years ago. The author is clearly very knowledgeable about the subject, and much of what is written is still true today.
The story is well-paced; however, at times the story is set aside for some, albeit very interesting, info-dumps. For students of history who enjoy crime, this is an excellent and entertaining way to gain more information about the history of Islam.
This is a well-written and enjoyable novel, although without reading the first two books in the series, there are many questions left unanswered. Reference is made to a previous case which has a lasting effect on the relationship between the two investigators, but insufficient detail is given to make this a true stand-alone novel. Also, for this reviewer, whilst there was good character development, good dialogue, and great interaction among the characters, there was a lack of historical setting. For a reader completely unversed in Islamic ideology within its historical context, this story could have been set in modern-day Iraq. This detracted from an excellently researched novel, which this clearly is.
