Unfortunately it seems this series never regained the heights the first book achieved. This volume, the final full length Audran novel, is a fairly generic, boring, detective story. Once again set in Effinger's brilliantly realised future North Africa this book introduces nothing new to the Audran saga. The section set in the Saudi desert was good but in the end didn't really change anything.

Audran was still the same. There was no true growth. In a way this book reminded me of another book I read recently, [b:The Lies of Locke Lamora|127455|The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)|Scott Lynch|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320532483s/127455.jpg|2116675], in that the book sets itself up for an intricate, devious battle of wits but it's all over before you know it. After a long, protracted setup within a matter of pages it's all done and they've moved on. I was left wondering if Amazon didn't give me the full book. It was disappointing after the series started so well. I have the final book which is just a collection of short stories and the only chapters written of the planned fourth book but I'm wondering if I really should read or will it just lower this series in my eyes even further. We shall see.