Reading, Writing, and Sourdough

This is a barely fictionalized account of the Mexican drug wars from 2008 - 2013. Some of the names have been changed and the dialog is surely invented, but the cartels themselves, the conflicts among them, and the violence they inflicted on one another and innocent Mexicans is horrifyingly real. What emerges is a complex business model that in most ways mimics other economic sectors: transportation, minerals, energy, agriculture and high tech. CEOs look to maximize profit, outsell competitors, maximize market share, cut costs of production, increase productivity, and ensure customer satisfaction and reliability. But cartels also act like independent warring states. They have armies, intelligence operations, advanced weaponry like helicopters, ships, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. They engage in frontal assaults, guerrilla tactics, flanking maneuvers, shifting alliances, and treaties. Yet, they differ from both states and all other businesses in one key aspect. They achieve

A detective mystery set in the heart of Cairo. The detective, a Sudanese immigrant named Makana, is a former policeman hired by one of Cairo's wealthiest real estate moguls to hunt for the missing superstar of the mogul's soccer team. Makana uncovers extreme wealth and poverty, corruption at the highest levels, and street people making a go of it in the busy, dusty bazaars of the sprawling city. Eventually he finds his missing soccer star. To Makana's credit he is a nice guy, albeit melancholy. He smokes too many cigarettes, but doesn't drink or abuse anything or anyone. To the author's credit, Parker Bilal's book is breezy; it clips along at a reasonable pace. Only it skims the Nile's wave tops. In the end you don't feel like you have the deeper understanding of life in Cairo you were hoping for.