In this sequel to When Gravity Fails and A Fire in the Sun finds Marid Audran and his patron Friedlander Bey, framed for murder and sentenced to exile in Rub al-Khali in the Arabian Desert. As in real life, the Rub al-Khali ("The Empty Quarter") is a vast, uninhabited sand sea, from which no one emerges alive. The bulk of the book takes place there, as they are rescued by a tribe of Bedouin and undergo deep self-examination. The change of setting makes for a nice difference from the previous two books, and there's a bit more character development as well. As is to be expected, the duo make it back to Cairo to unmask the person who set them up and exact vengeance (rather like Stevenson's Kidnapped). Things work out a little too easily for them upon their return, but on the whole, it's another solid entry in the series.