Felaheen by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

I found “Felaheen” to be a disappointing conclusion to Grimwood’s “Arabesk” trilogy. I kept hoping for things to really fall together and start making sense, but that was the one thing it never did.

“Felaheen” follows the same structure as the other two volumes: a main plot involving Rafe (our hero) solving some problem in the modern day, along with a secondary flashback plot. As with each of these novels, the “modern day” appears to be slightly in the future from now, but it is based on an alternate history where the Ottoman Empire did not collapse. Thus the novels, set in Northern Africa, all describe a culture of (relatively) moderate Islamic rule. In this modern day plot, Rafe is searching for his real parentage and preventing assassination plots against his (possible) father. In the course of his ramblings he finds himself (as he has in the entire series), in a series of completely bizarre and ridiculous circumstances: sometimes being the Chief of Police, sometimes a short order cook, sometimes walking naked across the desert in shackles, sometimes a secret agent. The way he is buffeted by fate into these improbable situations is one of my main complaints of the series. It just stretched my suspension of disbelief to the absolute breaking point.

Along with the modern plot is a flashback plot. In the second novel, “Effendi,” this was the most effective part of the book; the story of a child soldier in the wars of Northern Africa and the atrocities committed almost casually by the child and those around him. It was both illuminating and moving. In this book the flashback involves Rafe’s mother and was nothing special. It was more or less a character portrait of an ecoterrorist, and it wrapped up with the book only about 2/3 finished. A definite error in pacing there.

Only one member of the cast of secondary characters gets much attention here. Hani, Rafe’s 11-year old niece, runs all over the place, trying to help Rafe in whatever she thinks he’s doing. Her journeys are likewise amazingly improbable, even after you accept her super-genius talents. All the other continuing chracters get short shrift: Zara, Rafe’s putative love interest, is relegated to moping; her father is barely mentioned; and Eddie makes an appearance (in another ridiculously improbable role) solely to wrap up some of the loose ends that otherwise would be left dangerously dangling.

To be fair, in the end a lot of questions do get answered. However, up to the end the author has been so unnecessarily allusive and sly and has withheld so much information that he could easily have given the reader that I for one ended up feeling cheated. I wanted to like the protagonist, but he was too angst-ridden and random for me to relate to. For me the setting is the strongest part of the series, and it is consistent throughout (although at many points I still think a glossary would have been useful). However, by the third book the world-building is (rightly) no longer the focus, so there was less of it to admire. If you have enjoyed all the confusion of the first two books then this one should be quite satisfying. However, if you were hoping that the third one would sit up and start making sense, you’ll be disappointed, as I was.