DOGSTAR RISING

It is the summer of 2001 and the heat is rising in Cairo’s crowded streets. It is ten years since private investigator Makana lost everything and fled his home in Sudan, and yet the past seems to be trying to lay claim to him again. A dubious businessman has appeared on the scene, Mo Damazeen, who claims to be in possession of a powerful secret. Meanwhile, the brutal, unsolved murders of a number of young homeless boys are fanning the embers of religious hatred. The finger of blame is being pointed at the Coptic community and as tensions start to mount Makana has a premonition that history may be about to repeat itself. When Makana witnesses a brutal killing he finds himself attracting the attention of both the state security services and an old and dangerous gangster family. His search for answers takes him from the labyrinth of Cairo to the ancient city of Luxor and an abandoned monastery in the desert, into a web of intrigue and violence.

Parker Bilal is a psyeudonym for Jamal Mahjoub. Born in London and brought up in Khartoum, Sudan, Mahjoub originally trained as a geologist and he has since written six critically acclaimed literary novels and been shortlisted and awarded a number of prizes. He currently lives in Barcelona.