Originally published in Canada as Traitor's Gate, this action story starts in London. A young woman called Ayesha RYDER from the Gaza Strip has inherited an apartment in London and now lives beyond her early dreams. As she's a mine of information on the cultures of the Middle East, the police consult her from time to time. The latest crime involves a murder of someone she knows.
Sir Evelyn Montagu was a prominent Jewish intellectual, and whoever tortured and killed him in his own apartment made it look like a terrorist-related crime. But Ayesha isn't so sure, noticing discrepancies. One thing she does know - she's going to miss her friend. This city is hosting a peace conference between the heads of the Israeli and Palestinian governments, and the police want quick answers. Ayesha is determined to get to the bottom of the matter, however long it takes.
A clue left for Ayesha points her to the figure Lawrence of Arabia, the British hero of the First World War who died in 1935. Conspiracy theories are linked to this man, given the politics of the times. If you liked the Indiana Jones films or Dan Brown books, you'll enjoy this hunt for clues and documents which lead through British political figures to Nazis and lost relics. Locations include the fascinating Imperial War Museum. Meanwhile, a sinister man named Nazir is assembling a pipe bomb in his safe house in Whitechapel, ready to sabotage the peace efforts.
I particularly liked that the daring Ayesha drops under the surface of London, from old Tube tunnels to catacombs. Adding to the fun, spy agency MI5 is watching the activity and spying on the computers of visiting dignitaries, while someone armed wants Ayesha dead. There is so much going on that thriller fans will have a good time and history enthusiasts will definitely want a copy. The end is filled with hope for a better future.
Nick Pengelley has also written Ryder: An American Treasure but I was happy to explore his British locations in RYDER which is first in the Ayesha Ryder series. I hope his determined, quick-thinking heroine gets to have many more adventures.
Ayesha Ryder bears the scars of strife in the Middle East. Now her past is catching up to her as she races to unravel a mystery that spans centuries—and threatens to change the course of history. As Israeli and Palestinian leaders prepare to make a joint announcement at the Tower of London, an influential scholar is tortured and murdered in his well-appointed home in St.John’s Wood. Academic researcher Ayesha Ryder believes the killing is no coincidence. Sir Evelyn Montagu had unearthed shocking revelations about T. E. Lawrence—the famed Lawrence of Arabia. Could Montagu have been targeted because of his discoveries? Ryder’s search for answers takes her back to her old life in the Middle East and into a lion’s den of killers and traitors. As she draws the attention of agents from both sides of the conflict, including detectives from Scotland Yard and MI5, Ryder stumbles deeper into Lawrence’s secrets, an astounding case of royal blackmail, even the search for the Bible’s lost Ark of the Covenant. Every step of the way, the endgame grows more terrifying. But when an attack rocks London, the real players show their hand—and Ayesha Ryder is left holding the final piece of the puzzle.
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