CITY OF VEILS was the August 2012 pick in my online book club, The Reading Cove. And I wish I could say it delivered on the promise of an engaging Saudi Arabian murder mystery....alas, I cannot...because, overall, the story is as dry as the Saudi desert.
A woman's body is found on the beach, and from there a very poorly-paced police investigation ensues; slow, tedious, and dull.
The personal lives of the lead investigators were explored at length with tiresome cultural pussy-footing, bogging down the murder mystery plot. It got old. Fast.
There was an interesting scene about 180 pages in, where I thought, okay, it's getting good...but it seemed to be in quite a hurry to get back to the dull, police procedural narrative, and the relationship angst. So in the end, I can't get CITY OF VEILS higher than a C-.
If you're looking for a great read set in the Middle East, I highly recommend THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Housseini instead!
A woman's body is found on the beach, and from there a very poorly-paced police investigation ensues; slow, tedious, and dull.
The personal lives of the lead investigators were explored at length with tiresome cultural pussy-footing, bogging down the murder mystery plot. It got old. Fast.
There was an interesting scene about 180 pages in, where I thought, okay, it's getting good...but it seemed to be in quite a hurry to get back to the dull, police procedural narrative, and the relationship angst. So in the end, I can't get CITY OF VEILS higher than a C-.
If you're looking for a great read set in the Middle East, I highly recommend THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Housseini instead!
