I’m slowly amassing a collection of mysteries published by Soho Crime. It’s not yet at the stage where I deliberately try to complete a collection. Rather, I pick them up as I find them. Sometimes I’m force to put certain books down and walk away, instead of starting a new series by a new author before I finish existing ones.
It all started four years ago with one book by Janwillem Van de Wetering, which led to Peter Lovesey, Cara Black, Mick Herron, and countless others. There are helpful listings in the back of most of the books showing other books and authors available, and the countries or cities where the action takes place. Most are outside the US, which gives me a chance to learn about many unfamiliar places.
One such book is by Matt Rees, formerly the Jerusalem bureau chief for TIME magazine. A Grave in Gaza is not the first book in the Omar Yussef series, but it’s the one I found and read first. I admit that I know little of this area in the Middle East. What I’ve read online and in newspapers seem to indicate things change quickly, usually for the worse, with civilians always in the role of collateral damage.
Rees’ book focuses mostly on the warring factions fighting for power in Gaza, a tiny strip of land, while trying to free an innocent man. It’s a tough read, with one death I fully expected and one that I did not. I suspect places like Gaza could always be portrayed in even more brutal ways, despite the book’s already vivid descriptions of torture, betrayal, murder, and terror. I didn’t know what to expect when I learned the protagonist’s age and background, but I was thoroughly impressed by both the character and the writer.
