On The Bone
""...the thoroughly good and delicious read that Barbara Nadel always serves up!" "
Synopsis:
It is Istanbul, a vibrant cosmopolitan city that is coming to terms with the different regime in power. There are elements within the city requiring more adherence to other stricter Muslim traditions and they can come into conflict with the non-religious rule of previous years. Inspector Cetin Ikmen is strictly of the latter persuasion and keeps a low profile when in conflict with the other camp.
A young man drops dead in one of the fashionable districts of Istanbul. It proves to be a death from natural causes, but the devastating findings of the post mortem is that his last meal was of human flesh. This is taboo in all major cultures and it is difficult to work out how a pleasant law abiding liberal man could have come to consume such a grisly feast.
Ikmen and his fellow Inspector, Mehmet Suleyman, delve into the world of exotic high end cuisine, a squat of liberal thinking people and outsiders from the accepted community, the old guard from the secular days and the army. They are all linked but it takes a great deal of skill and knowledge of people to tease out the solution to this mystery.
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Review:
What I love most about Barbara Nadel's writing is that it is always up to date and addresses the issues that concern the inhabitants of her world. In 'On The Bone', Nadel faces up to the changing world of Turkey where fundamentalist thinking is more accepted, but comes into conflict with the old secular elite. She looks at how people adjust to the new regime and the way in which long held beliefs are concealed from public view. This must be true in even more vivid and compelling situations throughout the Islamic world. Inspector Ikmen is the rational non-believer; his wife is a kind and caring follower of Islam. Both are good people and Ikmen can't see why both views cannot co-exist peacefully. Not everyone holds that view. This new book is certainly thought-provoking, as well as being the thoroughly good and delicious read that Barbara Nadel always serves up!