Cairo Cabal by Alan Caillou:
The British no longer hold control over Egypt, but that doesn’t mean they will
allow other countries taking over power. The riots of 1952 almost succeeded in
bringing that power structure down, but the Army took control and stopped the
foreign plans. Now, it appears Russia hopes to take power by the same way as
was attempted in 1952, but with enough money and the right plans. It all starts
with the discovery of a typed list in the room of a dead dancer named Princess
Higran. The names are Oswald Pearman, Ibrahim Shulam, Stefan Bolec, Sergei
Reizen, and Ahmed Saleh. Saleh’s name has already been crossed off, and he was
reported killed in an accident. Pearman works for the British State Department,
and he is provided more security. Shulam is a high-ranking police official.
Reizen is a Russian journalist – spy. And Bolec is a small-time crook. A final
name is written in pencil, Kamel Irani. Agent John Trent is assigned the case
for British Intelligence, and suspicion is first put on Irani. The story is slow, the author extremely
descriptive of scenes, locations, food, drink, everything about Egypt, and we
are led to believe Irani is heading the plot until half way into this long
travelogue, then suspicion slips to Reizen. As the story moves towards a
climax, another leader emerges. If all of this wasn’t enough, false scenes of
the unknown leader directing his men lead the reader astray, and there are
hints that he is already among them, and may even be one of the British agents.
These were false trails to lead the readers away from the truth. The story was
good, and John Trent was a plausible agent, but some of the Egyptian secondary
characters stole the show, so to speak. It was the Egyptians that finally
captured the leader. But too much description, and not enough action slowed the
story too much for a smooth read.
