The Exile Kiss

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From Publishers WeeklyThis is the third in a series about Marid Audran, a street hustler turned crime honcho in an Arabian city in a well-thought-out future world. The previous books, When Gravity Fails and A Fire in the Sun , featured skillful writing and engaging tales. This latest effort is short on both. The story sees Audran and his boss, Friedlander Bey--one of the two most powerful men in the city--set up by Bey's rival, Shaykh Reda Abu Adilp. 171 , and exiled on false charges to the desert. But the exile and their journey across the desert with the Bani Salim tribe who rescue them p. 79 , while seemingly the main plot, wind up being merely the prelude. The bulk of the book concerns Audran's quasi-criminal dealings in the city (where the law is mostly what Bey says it is) both before and after the exile. Audran is a likable and interesting narrator, but the ending occurs much too quickly and there's far less advancement of character in this novel than in the prior two. Those who haven't read the preceding volumes will have no idea what's going on here, but anyone who has read them will be undoubtedly be disappointed by this sequel. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalMarid Audran, reluctant right-hand man to Friedlander Bey, one of the Budayeen's most influential power brokers, finds himself and his boss framed for murder and exiled to the desert--from which Bey's enemies hope they will never return. Set in a future where even the Muslim world has succumbed to cyber technology, Effinger's ( When Gravity Fails , Morrow, 1987; A Fire in the Sun , Doubleday, 1988) latest Budayeen novel contains a tongue-in-cheek hero, a plethora of action, and a background filled with exotic detail. Purchase where the previous novels have a following.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.