Desert Rose. Vol I. The King Prawn
About
Meet Lenard. Indoctrinated by the Knights Templar philosophy in his youth by the force of his racist father, one of the highest-ranking French diplomats, and his social circle, and brainwashed with beliefs of racial superiority. He possesses all those invaluable skills one would expect from an intelligence officer, and he's about as arrogant as they come.
On the other side, there's Rabah, with Arab and Thai roots, who has climbed from the tough neighborhoods of Paris to become the leader of the most powerful drug and weapons cartel in Southeast Asia. He's defined by his exceptional IQ, almost like a condition. Hyperactive and completely distinctive, he wrestles with his personal demons and health issues, all stemming from his past traumas. He epitomizes the rags-to-riches story, starting as a street kid who faced the harshest hardships of life and eventually achieving great wealth and power.
Initially, it's a classic showdown: Lenard, the relentless intelligence officer, is hell-bent on taking down Rabah, the criminal mastermind. However, life is so cunning that it covers up secrets perfectly, like hiding Rabah and Lenard's shared past, unbeknownst to each of them.
While Volume I, The King Prawn, sets the scene and gives you a glimpse of the impending cyclone, its narrative is a storm unto itself.
The King Prawn, the first volume of the Desert Rose Trilogy, starts with the murder investigation of Turkish businesswoman Nehir, who was tangled in a bitter custody battle with Rabah, a powerful Thai-Arab cartel leader. Lenard, a French intelligence officer, partners with Turkish authorities under the guise of international cooperation, but his true focus is on Rabah, driven by complex underlying motives.
At the heart of the story is Dolunay, a young Turkish homicide officer grappling with her own psychological challenges as she delves into Nehir's secretive world alongside Lenard. Together, they uncover a dark web of human trafficking. However, Dolunay's quest for justice takes an unexpected twist when she's compelled to strike a secret deal with the cartel leader to avoid imprisonment and save her skin after a shocking incident.
"The King Prawn" is where characters' motivations blur and the line between right and wrong becomes dangerously thin. Lenard, Rabah, and Dolunay are intricately flawed characters, each harboring secrets. In this tangled web of crime and deceit, people aren't as they seem, and sometimes the one who seems the most treacherous turns out to be the most innocent of all, or vice versa.
By the end of the book, each of them ends up in a real mess, all because of their own choices and actions.
Praise for this book
I like authors who, when they write their stories, manage to do so in such a detailed way that it makes it easy for me to mentally picture what I read. In this novel, from the first pages I saw myself catapulted into a film, one of those that have always kept me glued to the screen without ever diverting my attention. It's the same effect this story had on me. Lots of action, many well-described characters, adrenaline-filled situations, a dose of mystery with very interesting historical references. Accurate and fluid writing.