Felaheen: The Third Arabesk by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
01/06/2003 . Source: Jane Palmer 

pub: Earthlight/Simon and Schuster. 356 page hardback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-6117-7.

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In 'Pashazade', Ashraf Bey (Raf) finds reluctant power and celebrity as a consequence of his mother's liaison with the Emir Moncef Pasha which produced him.

In 'Effendi', despite having learnt extraordinary powers during a spell in prison and having a chip in his brain called the fox, he finds himself both broke and the most important person in El Iskandryia.

In 'Felaheen', he reverts to type when Eugenie de la Croix attempts to inveigle him to go to the aid of the father he never met. Being the last of the trilogy all becomes clear by the end of the book if you can follow the many strands that bind the plot. Anachronistically, it has an almost fairytale ending which I will not give away here.

Raf moves through a carefully described alternative North African Islamic world like a mysterious djinn. Eventually accepting that the fox, which he previously believed to be an implant to enhance his mental processes is after all part of his own mind, he has become otherworldly and no longer self-doubting.

The tension of the previous books is lessened because this self-knowledge also endows him with an apparent invincibility without actually making him Superman. If possible, the plotline is even more oblique than in the previous books, the cleverness of the writing frequently upstaging the point being made.

Though compelling, 'Felaheen' does not have the novelty of 'Pashazade' or vigour of 'Effendi' as it follows the hero's pursuit of those responsible for the attempt on his father's life. Raf's travelling companions, Hani, his niece, and Murad, his 12-year-old half-brother, are children with enough intelligence and character to provide a refreshing contrast to the emotionally tormented hero.

Not being one of life's victims, the 11 or so year-old Hani has a preciousness which would terrify the radical writer of modern children's fiction.

Until Raf's recent arrival on the scene, she had never been outside her Aunt Nafisa's madersa and as a consequence developed a frighteningly practical view of a world she regarded as a mind game. This girl is extraordinary yet totally plausible.

Hani's feral cat, Ifritah, is her travelling companion when she sets out by herself for Tunis to find Raf, under the impression he must be a spy. The author's attention to Islamic architectural detail is remarkable and heightened by acute observations of a place not quite of our reality.

Despite the accepted cruelties of this alternative North Africa, 'Felaheen' is inexplicably free of the gratuitous nastiness beloved of authors attempting to prove their worldliness. Jon Courteney Grimwood knows his world too well to fall into that trap.

When violence does come, it is clinically observed in all its gory detail and as a logical consequence of the action. He revels in life's incongruities through Raf who is perpetually analysing and attempting to explain them to himself. Given the complexity and unexplainable elements of the character, this is quite understandable.

Although it sometimes takes concentration to make out what is going on, the writing is compelling enough to leapfrog any conundrums until things start to make sense again. The author writes well enough to get away with digressions that in other novelists would be self-indulgence.

There is always an underlying wit and dark humour to take the edge off the fact that many of his characters are often not that likeable, in other words, uncomfortably human.

The 'Arabesque' trilogy is challenging and thought provoking and repays the effort of keeping track of the plots that link them. It is also worth adding that it is always a relief to handle a book where the page gutter is wider than the outside margin, enabling the text to be seen without breaking the spine.

I'm sure a colour other than puce could have been chosen for the cover, though that is probably not the fault of Palimpset who typeset the novel.

Jane Palmer