Still in Books and Arts; Book Review;New thriller;Wreathed in smoke;

　　The Golden Scales. By Parker Bilal.

　　《金色的區域》，Parker Bilal于布倫堡著。

　　Parker Bilal whisks the reader straight to the dark heart of Cairo. From the maze of alleys in themedieval bazaar to sand-blown, half-finished luxuryhousing developments, the Egyptian capital is a menacing place where betrayal swirls like an army of djinns.

　　Parker Bilal帶領讀者輕松殺入開羅黑暗的心臟。從中世紀市集迷宮般的巷道，到塵土飛揚，尚未竣工的豪宅工地，埃及首都處處是威脅，背叛則如神魔組成的軍隊一般盤旋梭巡，神出鬼沒。

　　Makana is a poverty-stricken Sudanese political exile living alone on a rickety houseboat on the Nile. He is commissioned by Hanafi, a violent and corrupt Cairene oligarch, with finding Adil Romario, a star football player. Meanwhile, Liz Markham, the daughter of a British aristocrat, has been tortured and murdered while searching for her daughter, who went missing in Cairo more than 20 years earlier. A former policeman himself, Makana is no naif, but he rapidly finds himself in a perilous world peopled with Egypts ultra-rich, Islamic militants and Russian organised crime. Its a heady mix, but one that Mr Bilal pulls off with verve.

　　Makana，蘇丹人士，窮困潦倒，因政治問題被流放他鄉，獨居于尼羅河上一艘破敗不堪的船屋里。他肩負開羅殘暴腐朽的獨裁者Hanafi的使命，尋找足球明星Adil Romario。同時，英國貴族之女Liz Markham在尋找20余年前在開羅丟失的女兒時被折磨并被殺害了。Makana曾為警察，自然絕不天真，但很快卻發現自己身陷人間地獄，周圍盡是埃及巨富、伊斯蘭好戰分子，還有俄羅斯人組織的犯罪。這是個讓人眼花繚亂的局面，Bilal先生卻用高超的技藝成功駕馭了它。

　　A London-born literary novelist, Parker Bilal has also lived in Cairo and Sudan. His prose has a subtlety that is rarely found in crime novels: an old man screwed up his face so that all the lines drew together, like a net being drawn in metal rods on a construction site are scattered like enormous burned matchsticks naked light bulbs on an electrical flex resemble strange fruits on a vine. The novel is set in pre-Arab-spring Cairo and the city is vividly evoked, its smells and sounds almost seeping from the pages. Characters such as Okasha, a policeman who is Makanas friend and ally, and Sami, a terrier-like reporter, are nuanced and believable though the story flags a little in the middlealways tricky territory for a crime noveland there are perhaps one too many meaningful meetings with long looks across the table wreathed in cigarette smoke. In the end there is justice, of a sort. Some evildoers are punished, others walk free protected by higher authorities, just as they probably would in real-life Cairo. The twist at the end is subtly signalled. Makana, too, has his demons. His journey, as he learns to live with them, stays with you.

　　Parker Bilal生于倫敦，曾居于蘇丹和開羅，擅寫小說，文筆優美。他的犯罪小說字字璇璣，筆觸細膩精妙，有如散文，甚為難得：一位老人飽經風霜，臉上的皺紋交結在一起，如同一張收攏的漁網。建筑工地散亂的鋼筋像無數燒過的火柴棍兒燈泡沒有燈罩，懸在花線末端，宛如葡萄藤上奇異的水果。小說將故事背景設在阿拉伯之春前，鮮活地重現了當時的開羅：它的喧囂，它的氣味，全都躍然紙上，呼之欲出。小說對角色的刻畫細致入微，真實可信;Makana的同盟好友Okasha警官，對朋友忠誠友善的記者Sami都是如此。然而文章的中段有些拖沓犯罪小說很難處理好這些地方還有一些多余的有意義的會面，人從這頭穿過氤氳的煙霧看著桌子的那頭。在文章最后，正義勉強算是得到了伸張。一些行惡之人受到了懲罰，一些則在上頭的保護下逍遙法外;如果真的是在開羅，最后結局大概也就是這樣。結尾的大轉折在前文中埋有伏筆。Makana心中也有自己的惡魔。在旅途中，他學習著如何與它們一道生活;在這條路上，他與你相隨。

　　Still in Books and Arts; Book Review;New thriller;Wreathed in smoke;

　　The Golden Scales. By Parker Bilal.

　　《金色的區域》，Parker Bilal于布倫堡著。

　　Parker Bilal whisks the reader straight to the dark heart of Cairo. From the maze of alleys in themedieval bazaar to sand-blown, half-finished luxuryhousing developments, the Egyptian capital is a menacing place where betrayal swirls like an army of djinns.

　　Parker Bilal帶領讀者輕松殺入開羅黑暗的心臟。從中世紀市集迷宮般的巷道，到塵土飛揚，尚未竣工的豪宅工地，埃及首都處處是威脅，背叛則如神魔組成的軍隊一般盤旋梭巡，神出鬼沒。

　　Makana is a poverty-stricken Sudanese political exile living alone on a rickety houseboat on the Nile. He is commissioned by Hanafi, a violent and corrupt Cairene oligarch, with finding Adil Romario, a star football player. Meanwhile, Liz Markham, the daughter of a British aristocrat, has been tortured and murdered while searching for her daughter, who went missing in Cairo more than 20 years earlier. A former policeman himself, Makana is no naif, but he rapidly finds himself in a perilous world peopled with Egypts ultra-rich, Islamic militants and Russian organised crime. Its a heady mix, but one that Mr Bilal pulls off with verve.

　　Makana，蘇丹人士，窮困潦倒，因政治問題被流放他鄉，獨居于尼羅河上一艘破敗不堪的船屋里。他肩負開羅殘暴腐朽的獨裁者Hanafi的使命，尋找足球明星Adil Romario。同時，英國貴族之女Liz Markham在尋找20余年前在開羅丟失的女兒時被折磨并被殺害了。Makana曾為警察，自然絕不天真，但很快卻發現自己身陷人間地獄，周圍盡是埃及巨富、伊斯蘭好戰分子，還有俄羅斯人組織的犯罪。這是個讓人眼花繚亂的局面，Bilal先生卻用高超的技藝成功駕馭了它。

　　A London-born literary novelist, Parker Bilal has also lived in Cairo and Sudan. His prose has a subtlety that is rarely found in crime novels: an old man screwed up his face so that all the lines drew together, like a net being drawn in metal rods on a construction site are scattered like enormous burned matchsticks naked light bulbs on an electrical flex resemble strange fruits on a vine. The novel is set in pre-Arab-spring Cairo and the city is vividly evoked, its smells and sounds almost seeping from the pages. Characters such as Okasha, a policeman who is Makanas friend and ally, and Sami, a terrier-like reporter, are nuanced and believable though the story flags a little in the middlealways tricky territory for a crime noveland there are perhaps one too many meaningful meetings with long looks across the table wreathed in cigarette smoke. In the end there is justice, of a sort. Some evildoers are punished, others walk free protected by higher authorities, just as they probably would in real-life Cairo. The twist at the end is subtly signalled. Makana, too, has his demons. His journey, as he learns to live with them, stays with you.

　　Parker Bilal生于倫敦，曾居于蘇丹和開羅，擅寫小說，文筆優美。他的犯罪小說字字璇璣，筆觸細膩精妙，有如散文，甚為難得：一位老人飽經風霜，臉上的皺紋交結在一起，如同一張收攏的漁網。建筑工地散亂的鋼筋像無數燒過的火柴棍兒燈泡沒有燈罩，懸在花線末端，宛如葡萄藤上奇異的水果。小說將故事背景設在阿拉伯之春前，鮮活地重現了當時的開羅：它的喧囂，它的氣味，全都躍然紙上，呼之欲出。小說對角色的刻畫細致入微，真實可信;Makana的同盟好友Okasha警官，對朋友忠誠友善的記者Sami都是如此。然而文章的中段有些拖沓犯罪小說很難處理好這些地方還有一些多余的有意義的會面，人從這頭穿過氤氳的煙霧看著桌子的那頭。在文章最后，正義勉強算是得到了伸張。一些行惡之人受到了懲罰，一些則在上頭的保護下逍遙法外;如果真的是在開羅，最后結局大概也就是這樣。結尾的大轉折在前文中埋有伏筆。Makana心中也有自己的惡魔。在旅途中，他學習著如何與它們一道生活;在這條路上，他與你相隨。