Book description
It is the middle of the 12th century . . .
On the banks of the Nile, in a city alive with intrigue, Caliph
Rashid al-Hasan rules as a figurehead over a crumbling empire. In the
shadow of the Grey Mosque, generals vie for power and influence under
the scheming eyes of a venal grand vizier. Warring factions use murder
and terror to silence their opponents. Egypt bleeds - and the scent
draws her enemies in: the swaggering Shirkuh, who serves the Sultan of
Damascus, and Amalric, king of Jerusalem, whose greed is insatiable
and whose Crusader knights are hungry for a fight.
Yet all is not lost. In a distant land, there lives an old man who
holds the power of life and death over the Moslem world. He has
decided to help the Caliph and sends his greatest weapon. A single
man. An Assassin. The one they call the Emir of the Knife...
Scott Oden
was born in 1967 in Indiana, and raised in rural North Alabama where he
still lives. His fascination with Egypt and the ancient world began at
school when a teacher showed his class slides from the Tutankhamun
Exhibition. He studied history and English at the University of Alabama
before pursuing the usual variety of odd jobs - from delivering pizza to
clerking at a video store. His previous novels were the acclaimed
Men
of Bronze
and
Memnon.
