On February 19, 2011, barely one week after Hosni Mubarak was forced out as president of Egypt, five exiled Libyan opposition leaders are apparently kidnapped, one by one. Two weeks later, a mid-level US diplomat is murdered while dining with his wife in a Budapest restaurant.
Uncovering the connections between these disparate geopolitical events is the main plot line underpinning the unusual new thriller, The Cairo Affair, by the best-selling author Olen Steinhauer.
Clearly, this is the work of a pro. Not only is it a page-turner with constant twists and turns, it is also a well-written piece of literature, a cut above its genre. The characters are complex human beings far from the James Bond image.
The naive assumptions and uncertainty of the early days of the Arab Spring, lurking in the background, add extra depth. Before the Egyptian revolution, one CIA contractor laments, the experienced spies who tailed him were easier to predict than the new radicals, “awkward, fumbling rookies who knew the neighbourhood but wouldn’t know tradecraft if it slapped him in the face”. But surprisingly, this book stumbles at its own speciality. The story relies too heavily on motivations and obtuseness that are simply unbelievable, especially for career agents.
In the Libya-related plot line, a young Libyan-American CIA analyst named Jibril Aziz, convinced that the US is trying to manipulate the simmering opposition to Muammar Qaddafi, heads to the Middle East to find the missing activists. Meanwhile, just before he is killed, Emmett Kohl, the deputy US consul in Hungary, had accused his beautiful wife, Sophie, of having an affair with a CIA official who had worked with Emmett at the embassy in Cairo the prior year. Panicked, Sophie sneaks back into Egypt to try to find her husband’s murderer and cover up her own misdeeds. Those misdeeds are presumably related to a shameful episode during the Kohls’ honeymoon in Prague 20 years earlier, when they jauntily took a side trip to Serbia to “look at a war”.
Steinhauer – who has written eight previous novels and been a finalist for numerous awards – effectively uses literary techniques to subtly scatter his clues. His understated style is perfect for a thriller, where it’s important to have just the right number of hints, hidden with just the right amount of subtlety.
At the Budapest restaurant, for instance, Emmett asks Sophie if anyone knew about her extramarital affair. She thinks: “He was being petty now, as if it truly mattered whether or not someone knew of his bruised pride. But she could give him that. ‘No one,’ she lied. He nodded, but didn’t look relieved.”
Without saying so outright, Steinhauer has signalled that Sophie still cares enough about Emmett to spare his feelings, that her white lie won’t be enough for an immediate reconciliation and that her guilt hasn’t wiped out her ability to see his faults. At the same time, the author, like a magician, has waved a brightly coloured silk handkerchief that distracts from the real drama going on.
Similarly, Steinhauer needs only a few key phrases – “a scratched BMW” or a man’s “cheeks bristling with white hair” – to return repeatedly to the same scenes from different points of view, thus unrolling a complicated, multifaceted view of the story.
The spies and their colleagues have families, headaches and heart attacks, in addition to the mandatory cynicism. The CIA contractor, John Calhoun, is a no-nonsense black former Army sniper who also loves the poetry of T S Eliot, Wallace Stevens and William Carlos Williams. A dedicated Egyptian security official and his frumpy wife become second parents to Aziz, the Libyan-American CIA analyst.
But perhaps the characters are too well-drawn as people and not well enough conceived as spies.
Surely a seasoned security guard like Calhoun would be suspicious when the wife of an Egyptian opposition leader, who already speaks perfectly passable English, insists on meeting only Calhoun and no one else for extra language tutoring because, supposedly, she wants to be taught by an African-American. Yet he takes the job. Nearly every character seems to accept Aziz’s complicated scenario regarding the kidnappings without suggesting a much more obvious explanation.
Most crucially, the motivation behind a key element of the plot – why someone would pass secret files from the US embassy in Cairo to an Egyptian agent – is just too weak.
Despite these flaws, The Cairo Affair is an engrossing and well-written yarn with interesting insights into the current turmoil in the Middle East and the US role. Plus, the reader can feel smarter than the spies.
Fran Hawthorne is an award-winning US-based author and journalist who specialises in covering the intersection of business, finance and social policy.
thereview@thenational.ae
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT
Price, base / as tested Dh460,000
Engine 8.4L V10
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
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The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Why your domicile status is important
Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.
Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born.
UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.
A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
ENGLAND SQUAD
Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 6 (McTominay 2', 3'; Fernandes 20', 70' pen; Lindelof 37'; James 65')
Leeds United 2 (Cooper 41'; Dallas 73')
Man of the match: Scott McTominay (Manchester United)
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Army of the Dead
Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera
Three stars
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
The biog
Favourite book: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Favourite holiday destination: Spain
Favourite film: Bohemian Rhapsody
Favourite place to visit in the UAE: The beach or Satwa
Children: Stepdaughter Tyler 27, daughter Quito 22 and son Dali 19
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Racecard
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah Group Two (PA) US$55,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm: Meydan Trophy (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,900m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,200m
8.15pm: Balanchine Group Two (TB) $250,000 (T) 1,800m
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,000m
9.25pm: Firebreak Stakes Group Three (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,600m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m
The National selections: 6.30pm: RM Lam Tara, 7.05pm: Al Mukhtar Star, 7.40pm: Bochart, 8.15pm: Magic Lily, 8.50pm: Roulston Scar, 9.25pm: Quip, 10pm: Jalmoud
Barcelona 3
Messi (27’, 32’, 87’)
Leganes 1
El Zhar (68’)
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.