In this fast-moving but thinly written spy thriller set in 1940s Beirut, everyone is a spy or the spouse of one; everyone keeps or divulges information to serve a personal, national or international cause. Germany's occupation of France has thrown French rule in Lebanon into question, and the Allies are incompatible. Indeed, the French themselves are internally divided between those who acquiesce to the Nazis, and the Free French, who refuse to accept surrender. Saleh (The Qadi and the Fortune-Teller), a lawyer in Beirut and London, skillfully paints the political configurations and intersecting aims in Lebanon of the French, Germans, Italians, British, Palestinians, the World Zionist Organization and various Lebanese officials, presenting a balanced account of their differences. An assortment of individuals, some of them Saleh's protagonists, represent these interests; unfortunately, many of their machinations are rendered somewhat laboriously. While Saleh doles out a balanced amount of political information, he overexplains the minutiae of personal interaction, generally in stilted dialogue. " 'I know he was a spy, but I still have difficulty believing it,' the French officer hastened to say, with an overtone of apology for the skeptical impression he might have conveyed." Besides such strained justifications for emotional motives, the central love triangle between a French female espionage agent, a French officer and a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer is well wrought. The story is interesting, if not terribly exciting, and war novel fans will enjoy the unusual setting and fresh perspective on early Allied and Axis activity. (June)
