The Jerusalem Puzzle
Page 32
I agreed to manage the project. Even if what I’d seen, the bank’s logo, was a coincidence, it would be good to have something different to sink my time into. Now I needed to sort something else out.
When I put the phone down, Isabel appeared at the door of the kitchen. I think she must have been listening.
‘You’re going to work on another project?’ she said. She sat opposite me at the white kitchen table.
‘I can’t mope around here forever. You’ll get sick of me.’
‘I won’t.’ She smiled.
I stood, then bent down on one knee to pick something off the floor. As I was there I looked up at her, then reached a hand towards her. There was a buzzing noise in my ears. My heart was picking up speed.
‘I’ve been plucking up the courage to do this for days,’ I said.
‘Do what?’ She looked at me oddly, her eyes wide, as if she was shocked.
‘Will you marry me?’ I said.
The words came naturally now that the moment was here. I couldn’t stop them. And suddenly I had no idea how she was going to reply.
Then she smiled, as if she knew all along what was going to happen, and had just been waiting for me to get on with it.
And as that second tumbled forward into the next, the last remnants of the ghosts of my past fled.
Read on for an extract from Laurence’s debut novel, The Istanbul Puzzle
1
Icy sweat streamed from Alek’s pores. He’d been optimistic. Way too optimistic. Kidnapping in the Islamic world was almost always a form of extortion – so he’d been told. But the appearance of the knife, big enough to gut a bear, had changed everything.
He shook his head in disbelief. Only an hour ago he’d been happy in his hotel room, a place that was now as unreachable as a childhood dream.
His heart banged against his ribs as if it wanted out. He looked around. Was there someone else in the pillared hall he could appeal to?
The bead like eye of the video camera blinked on. Alek’s arms and legs jerked, straining at the orange nylon rope binding him to the smooth pillar. Musty air filled his nostrils. He was trembling, as if he had a fever.
When the two men had entered his room, he’d gone with them quietly. How stupid he’d been. Why hadn’t he shouted, roared, jumped for the window? He’d seen the look in this bastard’s eyes, as hard as stone. Now it was too late.
‘Let me go,’ he screamed.
His voice echoed. A hand held his shoulder. He threw his head from side to side, straining his neck. The rope around his ankles, knees and chest held him tight. His pulse thumped against it.
The knife glistened in the air like falling water. Only the prayer his mother had taught him could help him now.
Agios o Theos, agios ischyros, agios athanatos, eleison imas!
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us!
He closed his eyes. Iciness hit his neck. Then a hot torrent fell on his chest. Warmth gushed down his legs, soaking him. A foul smell rose around him.
An eerie calm descended.
He looked around the ancient hall, taking in its forest like rows of pillars. The entrance he’d found must have been sealed up over five hundred years ago, before the ancient city of Constantinople above him fell to a Muslim army and its name was changed to Istanbul. There were treasures down here any museum director in the world would beg for. But he wished he’d never found the place.
He stared at the aluminium tables nearby. What he’d seen on those tables had terrified him.
A black mist rushed towards him. Would Sean find out what had happened?
Agios o Theos, agios …
A minute later the two fountains of blood, two foot high at their peak, from the left and right arteries emerging from Alek’s chest, bubbled like cooling coffee percolators. The flesh around them shone with a silky gleam. But Alek’s eyes were closed and his face was peaceful.
An Interview with Laurence O’Bryan
What items couldn’t you live without?
My family, of course, then my laptop! Then books. Maybe books before laptop! Then movies and great TV and music that makes you want to get up and dance.
Which authors inspire you?
Kathy Reichs, Wilbur Smith, Enid Blyton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Graves, Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens are my favourite authors. I like stories with strong themes, a great plot and lively characters.
Do you spend a lot of time researching your novels?
I love research. I love reading about the history of every city my stories are set in and visiting each one. It’s a small indulgence and it allows me to smell what a place is like, and to see the look in the eyes of the inhabitants.
What is a typical working day like for you?
I write from about 8 a.m. until noon. Sometimes I’ll start earlier, but often I am reading or doing research on the internet before that. I also read history and interesting novels at night. In the afternoon I do some other editing or write posts for my blogs.
Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, how did you cope with it?
I’ve had writer’s block only once. Luckily that was seven years ago, so I seem to have conquered it. I’m self-disciplined and focused on writing these days so I don’t really have a problem with this.
Do your characters ever surprise you?
Yes, ideas flow sometimes and you can’t always be sure what a character will say next! That’s part of the fun of writing.
Which five people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party?
I would start with a few of the writers above! Any who could make it. After that I would love to know what happened to the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, and to ask along the Prophet Jeremiah, to see if he might spill the beans on what he did with the Ark of the Covenant. If the Queen of Sheeba could make it she could sit at the top of the table!
What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?
I cleaned the plates at a gentleman’s club opposite the Bank of England in the 1980s. The room was beautiful, but I had to stay hidden behind a screen in the corner. I was the lowest of the kitchen staff, but it was a pleasure to even see the inside of that beautiful club.
And what can you tell us about your next novel?
The next novel in the series is called The New York Puzzle. In it we finally find out what the square and arrow symbol means. We see Sean and Isabel in New York and get to find out some of the strange secrets of the oldest bank in the United States of America.
When did you start writing?
I started writing fiction on a daily basis in 2000. I had started a few stories before that, but after I lost a job in London and had to move house I decided it was time to start working on my dreams, to start creating something for myself. I miss days now and again, getting ill or suffering from a hangover are all that stops me now, but I have been working almost every day since then.
How did you decide what sort of books you wanted to write?
I always liked adventure stories. The Lord of the Rings is the only book I ever read three times. I loved King Solomon’s Mines by Rider Haggard and I Claudius by Robert Graves. I always wanted to create modern adventure storied with real characters about important things that are happening in the world around us.
Do you belong to a writers’ group?
I am in three live writers groups in Dublin. As I work from home these groups get me out of the house and help me understand what others think of my writing. They also provide real friendships. I am very grateful for that. I have also been in a number of online writer’s groups, such as authonomy, which were very useful to me.
Paperback or e-book … what do you prefer?
Paperback feels more permanent to me. I do read e-books sometimes, but I expect the main advantage of e-books would be if I were commuting and wanted to read on the train or in my lunch break. I am sure they are wonderful if you travel a lot. There is a place for both.
Does someone
read over your books before you submit them?
No, some bits are read out at writing groups, but I do the plotting and create the main structure myself. The Avon team help a lot with editorial advice too.
What’s your favourite part of the writing process?
Getting lost in the writing. When I get a good idea as to where the novel is going I can find myself totally involved in the creative process. I picture where the story is going and love that creative moment when all else slips away and there is only you and the words pouring out.
And what’s the hardest?
The hardest is the fast rewrite where you have two weeks to make changes and have to work seven days a week to get it done. Don’t let anyone fool you, writing is hard work. Very hard work.
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?
Never give up.
No matter what you write, if you keep going, if you keep learning, working on your craft, being open to feedback, you will succeed in some way. My middle initial is P. I like to think it stands for persistence.
Do you have a daily writing routine?
I get up at five most days, do some research, then start at either seven or a bit later. I revise what I wrote the day before, then write for about three hours, depending on what I have to do. Then I do some more research. I rarely write in the afternoon. The routine started when I had a full time job and had to stop writing by nine a.m. Now I can go on longer.
Do you plan a book from start to finish before you start writing?
I do now. I submit an outline of the book and stick to it, except where new ideas will add significantly to the story. I like to have a plan, but to be open to twists and turns that emerge while I write.
Visiting Jerusalem
In Jerusalem you can go to hell or heaven in streets just wide enough for two handcarts to pass.
In the Old City of Jerusalem
Hell is the Valley of Gahenna, the rocky valley just to the south of the city walls, where the entrance to the underworld was traditionally placed. Heaven is the Temple Mount, the Wailing Wall or the Tomb of Jesus, depending on your religion.
‘They won’t shoot you,’ the pretty Israeli girl on the bus from Ben Gurion Airport had said. I’d just explained that I was staying for a week in East Jerusalem.
It was late February 2012. The sky was blue and the bus was winding up through the hills. I was the last to be left off. The narrow car-choked streets of East Jerusalem were busy with electrical shops, restaurants and apartment buildings. The view from my Spartan hotel room was of a building site. It looked as if it had been abandoned.
I was reminded of the girl’s words the following morning when I was walking through the Islamic quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus’ tomb is and where Golgotha is, where he was crucified. My hotel was near Herod’s Gate. It seemed like a good idea to walk through the Old City, a walled medieval looking city with a Biblical core. Its walls were built by Suleiman I in the late sixteenth century when Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire. They are massive, thick as a sand dune ridge at their base and still completely intact.
I decided to take a short cut by sticking close to the walls. I veered off the main alleyway and found myself on a winding lane that skirted sand coloured buildings like prison walls on each side. I rounded a corner and saw a stretch of empty lane ahead with steps and no humans anywhere to be seen.
My feet echoed as I moved fast in what I hoped was the right direction. I heard a shout and turned. But there was no one behind me. Which way now? Empty alleys led off to the right and left. Some of them were stairways. There was another shout behind me.
Two boys were racing down the street with satchels dangling. I hurried on. Soon I was at the great church mingling with the tourists, and glad to be there.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a pilgrimage destination since the early 4th century, was reconstructed a thousand years ago thanks mainly to donations by a Byzantine Emperor, Constantine IX. The previous church had been razed to the ground.
I went to Jerusalem in February, at the same time that The Jerusalem Puzzle is set, to ensure I experienced the weather, the smells and the feeling on the streets, and to get a good understanding of the daily life of the city at that time of the year.
I also travelled far south to near Taba, the border crossing with Egypt, and through the Palestinian territories via Hebron and Bethlehem, near where scenes in the book are set. I passed through military checkpoints, saw guns drawn and crowds demonstrating.
A demonstration outside Herod’s Gate, East Jerusalem
This is not a political book. I am neither qualified nor inclined to write such a book. But in Jerusalem I found a powerful and evocative city. What surprised me most about it was:
The small size of the Old City. The Old City is encircled with medieval walls and is where the main historical and religious sites are. You can walk across it in twenty minutes. At its heart it is a warren of narrow alleys.
The fact that the people are so visibly devoted to religion. Coming from a superficially secular country this is striking. Much closes on the Sabbath in Jerusalem, but not only that, it is obvious that all sides there, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, are devoted to following the daily paths of their religion. Prayers are a focus and lives appear devout.
The similarities between the modest dress of the Muslim women, mostly headscarfed, and the Jewish women, headscarfed too, but in different colours.
The numbers of pilgrims from each faith visiting the city despite it not being a time of any great significance for any of the major religions.
I went to the Wailing Wall and saw the devotion that people have for this site. I experienced the wonders of the Dome of the Rock and went around and around and deep under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Each of these sites has its own special feeling. Each has its wonders. I will not attempt to list them.
The entrance to Lady Tunshuq’s Palace is on the left
My background led me to spend more time at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is also where some important scenes in the book are set. I was there early in the morning and as it closed at night with a special ceremony, one that is carried on and watched by Christian pilgrims each night of the year since the time of Saladin.
Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the
Tomb of Jesus on the left
I found the interior of the Church beautiful and intriguing, although the number of Christian denominations in control of the site leaves much to be desired, for me, and illustrates the fractious nature of the descendants of those who follow Jesus.
For me Mount Zion, just outside the city walls, was the most spiritual place I visited. As I went down a stone spiral staircase to the chapel commemorating where Mary died I listened to Polish people singing hymns.
Dormition Abbey, Mount Zion, Jerusalem
The Negev Desert, the Judean Hills and the Dead Sea were all on my itinerary too. I visited villages off the beaten track and an old house with a palm tree drive that could easily be a model for the villa described in the book.
I wish to pay tribute to the people of all faiths and none who welcomed me to Israel and the Palestinian territories and who let me eat with them and who showed such compassion and faith in an outsider, despite the terrible things that have happened to so many from all sides there and the fact that the conflict in this land is not over.
Finally, I hope for an enduring peace and an end to all the suffering in these lands. Hasn’t there been enough?
All photographs © LP O’Bryan
About the Author
Laurence O’Bryan has worked in IT marketing for many years, ten of them in London, until he was made redundant. He then returned to Dublin where he has lived since.
To find out more about Laurence, find him on Twitter @LPOBryan, follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/laurence.obryan and visit his blog www.lpobryan.wordpress.com.
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Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
AVON
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
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London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2012
Copyright © Laurence O’Bryan 2012
Laurence O’Bryan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Source ISBN: 9781847562890
EPub Edition © January 2013 ISBN: 9780007453313
Version 1
FIRST EDITION
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