book number 2 is The Cairo Diary by Maxim Chattam published by pan books and again is available from amazon in either paperback or hardback, Its also available from play.com in paperback
The Cairo Diary is a book within a book, a story within a story and personally I found that only one of the storys is really finished off properly, only one really carries its self and has the power to keep you gripped and sadly, over all I feel that it suffers because of that, Its set in modern day France and also turn of the century Egypt, -dont worry though theres no time travelling to get your head around lol,
The book is a thriller crossed with a detective story crossed with a murder mystery crossed with the current genre du jour, conspiracy. and its manages to tie it all together reasonably well, if only thanks to the last 50-60 pages,
The characters in the main are very flat and not fleshed out in the way they are in the book within the book, (which is easier to read than it is to talk about) and even then it ask's you believe that someone who saw something. Which were not told what it was, just that its so bad the lead character in the outer book -Marion, is whisked off to Mont Saint-Michel -a spiritual retreat of sorts, by a french mi6 style specialist police section. Where she is to be hidden untill her life is no longer in danger, from who and why were only given a vague idea.
Then theres the problem with the ages of the characters. Maxim Chattam implies that someone of approximatly 110yrs old is not only as quick and nimble as a teenager but fleet of foot enough to out run some one while racing up and down flights of stone steps. Which isnt a trait i've seen in many people over 80 let alone 110. but I can see why this was done, to tie the two storys together and it manages that, just about.
The book with the book or the story within the story depending on how you look at it, Is Much better. The characters are much more engaging, and seem to be the authors favourite's as well.
The lead charachter in the story within is a police detective, who is hunting the vicious and brutal murderer of children in and around Cairo, The local police force are more superstitious and believe only a ghoul could be responsable for such terrible crime's. So its left up to the detective and his partner to hunt the killer as best they can. Attempting to profile the suspect and catch the killer.
Im not going to call the ending trite, But its not far off, personally the way its all neatly bundled up in the last couple of pages is a shame as the last 50-60 pages were some of the best in the book, and allow the story to flow with the ease of a James Patterson thriller.
If your not looking for much other than a decent story and you can look past the flaws in the plot -and the graphic details of some of the murders within the book within the book, then im sure you'll enjoy it, at the time when I read it I enjoyed it. Its just that I'll not be going back to for another read any time soon, I think it could have been finished off alot better than it was and thats what lets it down in my eyes, and detracts from what is overall a decent if patchy story
