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Grave in Gaza (Omar Yussef Mysteries) Hardcover – February 1, 2008

by Matt Beynon Rees (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 79 ratings
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Praise for the Omar Yussef series:

“The Collaborator of Bethlehem is readable and literate, and offers a vivid portrait of Palestinian life today.”—The Washington Post

“Matt Beynon Rees has taken a complex world of culture clash and suspicion and placed upon it humanity.”—David Baldacci, author of The Collectors

“Omar’s probe of a West Bank ruled by political intrigue, religious hatred, and militia thugs lets ex-TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief Rees make the Mideast conflict personal.”—Entertainment Weekly

“The Collaborator of Bethlehem is the best—and the rarest—sort of mystery: exciting and compelling, but it is also a deeply moving story that will, for many readers, shed much light on the conditions in the Palestinian territories.”—David Liss, author of The Ethical Assassin and A Conspiracy of Paper

“Uncovers the gritty, often disturbing human realities of life in Palestinian society. . . . [Rees] gives his characters heart as he gives his readers a thrill.”—TIME.com

“An evocative, compassionate tale.”—San Francisco Chronicle

As he tries to save the lives of two men, Omar Yussef is confronted with the corruption and violence of Gaza’s warring government factions and the criminal gangs with which they are connected.

Matt Beynon Rees was born in South Wales. He was previously the Jerusalem bureau chief for TIME magazine, where he is currently a contributor. He is the author of one previous mystery in the Omar Yussef series, The Collaborator of Bethlehem, and the nonfiction work Cain’s Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East. He lives in Jerusalem.
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Previous page
  1. Book 2 of 4
    An Omar Yussef Mystery
  2. Print length
    368 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Soho Crime
  5. Publication date
    February 1, 2008
  6. Dimensions
    5.43 x 1.15 x 7.8 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1569474729
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1569474723
  9. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

palestinian history teacher Omar Yussef travels from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, where he becomes immersed in local violence and politics, in this over-the-top sequel to Rees's The Collaborator of Bethlehem (2007). Omar Yussef is a modest figure, quiet and middle-aged. When a U.N. official asks him to speak to a kidnapped schoolteacher's wife, he soon finds himself in the midst of international intrigue, dealing missiles over dinner, shouting down police officers and militants armed with machine guns and rescuing someone from a smuggling tunnel. These incidents seem a bit extreme for an aging academic, though his charm and calm demeanor are almost enough to convince the reader. The zany plot is interesting despite its implausibility, and the richly detailed descriptions, complete with deliberately brutal details of torture and death, emphasize Omar Yussef's peril and the violent tumult of the Middle East.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Matt Beynon Rees was born in South Wales. He was previously the Jerusalem bureau chief for TIME magazine, where he is currently a contributor. He is the author of one previous mystery in the Omar Yussef series, The Collaborator of Bethlehem, and the nonfiction work Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East. He lives in Jerusalem.

Matt Beynon Rees was born in South Wales. He has covered the Middle East as a journalist for over a decade, including five years as Time magazine's Jerusalem bureau chief. He is the author of the nonfiction work Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East, and three previous mysteries in the Omar Yussef series.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Soho Crime; First Edition (February 1, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1569474729
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1569474723
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.43 x 1.15 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 79 ratings

About the author

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Matt Rees

Matt Rees

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My novels have grown out of my career as a Middle East correspondent, which took me into culture very different from my own, and my love of history, which takes me into times very different from now. But those places and times aren't so completely different. I love to examine the emotions that connect you and me to people who live in distant places or distant times.

My books have been dramatized for BBC Radio and published in 25 languages. Along the way I picked up some major awards (a Crime Writers Association Dagger in the UK) and some nice compliments: major authors have compared my writing with the work of Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Georges Simenon and Henning Mankell.

Read more about my books at mattrees.net.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
79 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

zorba
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaing but Sad
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2009
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This is a good thriller around which is wrapped the horror story called Gaza. The author unflinchingly describes as absolutely hellish life in the embattled sliver of land, so much in the news today. It's a land that seems hopeless, with the glut of warlords, bosses and criminals, each self-aggrandizing, each at war with the others. Into this cauldron steps school teacher Omar Yussef, whose exploits in his West Bank hometown of Bethlehem were chronicled in an earlier Rees novel. Omar Yussef quickly finds himself embroiled in a bloody confrontation between warring factions and manages to preserve his morality and integrity -- seemingly rare qualities in modern day Gaza -- as he helps unravel a mystery. The plot is a little complex and you have to pay attention to detail. But if you do, you will find yourself entertained and informed by this gem of a book by an excellent writer.
2 people found this helpful
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Scot Bedford
5.0 out of 5 stars AN ARM CHAIR ADVENTURER PLOPPED SMACK IN THE GAZA STRIP
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2009
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I am half-way through this novel and I must wax ecstatic. As a counter-point I have just finished my most disappointing and dismal read of the last quarter century, to wit; Randy Wayne White's HUNTER's MOON. I have already reviewed that tome with a blowtorch so there is no need to re-iterate. Suffice it to say that I hope good ole boy Randy has retreated to tending his rum bar in Sanibel Island and resumed his career as a Tarpon fishing guide. I am sure he must admit that he is not a man of letters and should take up an instrument that has a beer tap or fish hook on the end of it. Old Doc Ford must be put out to fiction pasture.
Lest I digress A GRAVE IN GAZA is a strong second edition in the Omar Yussef series. This unlikely hero jumps fully formed from the opening pages. He picks up where he left off in the introductory work in the series THE COLLABERATOR OF BETHLEHEM. That was a fine work. The climactic scene takes place in the cave where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. How cool is that geography for a page turner? However MBR's voice has grown steadier and he has honed his craft to a fine edge. As an intrepid armchair traveler who likes to ingest his culture through the medium of potboilers I commend MBR. This work grabbed me from my first scan of the map of Gaza. The characters are deftly drawn . The plot is intricate mirroring current political intricacies in Gaza. This work has brought meaning to the headlines I am reading in my morning paper. I am mid-book and looking forward to picking it up this hot, languid summer Sunday afternoon.
6 people found this helpful
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O'Regen
4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating complexity
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2014
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From the aspect of a mystery story, the plots are intricate, there are always surprises that pop up just when everything seems solved, and there are always enlivening pictres and details of landscapes, everyday life, historical and social developments. But Rees' books are always interesting because of the small slice of insight they give you into the grave complexities of the relationships of groups and interests, the internecine struggle among them derived from the pressures of life in occupied Palestine..with the current of humanity and struggle to survive and maintain some level of caring family lives and relationships.
3 people found this helpful
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MICHAEL CRAMER
5.0 out of 5 stars Omar Yussef
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2023
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The four Omar Yussef novels are excellent.
Omar Yussef is one several well structured characters. The stories are well told dialogue is believable. Thank You Mr Matt Rees...
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T. Brettschneider
3.0 out of 5 stars I've read better!
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2011
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I don't think it was as spell-binding as it could have been, especially when it was situated in the part of the world that it was. I wouldn't waste money buying anymore of this author's books.
One person found this helpful
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Kitty Axelson-Berry
4.0 out of 5 stars I'm always searching for insights into Israel/Palestine-Gaza. The Omar ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014
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I'm always searching for insights into Israel/Palestine-Gaza. The Omar Yussef series is helpful, even though it's a mystery series and it follows that there's a strong focus on violence and corruption.
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Stuart M. Wilder
5.0 out of 5 stars Rees hits another one over the fence
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2008
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Matt Rees' second Omar Yussef book will not disappoint fans of The Collaborator of Bethlehem, nor anyone interested in learning a little about the small battles Palestinians must fight every day just to survive. As in both his first novel and his earlier non-fiction book about the area, Cain's Field, Rees, thrifty with words, gives us a multi-layered and nuanced view of the world he depicts. Rees' Gaza is controlled by gangsters masquerading as politicians, where few good deeds go unpunished and good people try their best to cope. Unable though trying to bring about much good, Omar Yussef, the book's protagonist, instead pursues truth, and on the way finds that and irony. I do not want to give away the story, but I'll vouch that is a page turner that will please both mystery and Middle East book fans.
12 people found this helpful
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Prime Member 2008 in WI
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2014
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Having been to the Gaza Strip several times over the last two decades, I find it diddicut to expla in
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Top reviews from other countries

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Harold Wicks
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2015
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Excellent and eye opening!
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JoBill
4.0 out of 5 stars Engloutissement
Reviewed in France on December 21, 2012
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On retrouve là la bande de Gaza comme on peut la percevoir depuis nos points de vue d'occidentaux: la motivation des belligérants locaux n'est très certainement pas la sauvegarde de ce territoire qui nous est décrit en perdition, l'intérêt de chacun n'etant mû que par l'argent et les rivalités de rue.
L'auteur nous fait entrer à Gaza avec une relative simplicité pour mieux nous noyer, lentement, progressivement, le récit ne faisant plus qu'un avec l'endroit pour finir de ressembler à un énorme banc de sable mouvant qui englobe peu à peu le lecteur: on manque vite d'air, d'espoir... de tout.
Du coup l'intrigue générale du livre apparaît presque comme l'unique main courante à laquelle le lecteur peut se raccrocher, évitant de la sorte d'être totalement absorbé par la noirceur du lieu et des hommes... sujet qui pourrait faire de ce livre, un autre livre, mais cette dualité apparaît finalement comme une des véritables forces de ce polar.
One person found this helpful
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osiris
4.0 out of 5 stars Gaza oui !!
Reviewed in France on July 6, 2015
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Un très bon livre,une enquête subtile et tout en finesse dans l imbroglio politique du conflit Israelo-palestinien en plus des déchirements internes.
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ex nihilo
5.0 out of 5 stars The heat and filth of hell
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2013
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This is the second novel featuring Palestinian sleuth Omar Yussef. Not your ordinary whodunit, but a tortuous story that reveals the corruption and injustice that suffocates life in Gaza. Hence the filth. In fact, as the protagonist delves deeper into what seems at first to be a bureaucratic misunderstanding, things get more complicated -and dangerous- and he gets dirtier and dirtier. Literally. The more Yussef has to interact with politicians, militia leaders, smugglers and and other members of the rich and powerful in Gaza, the filthier he gets. He ends up so filthy that you can almost smell it. As for the heat, Yussef has the misfortune to arrive in Gaza just when a terrible Khamsine (heat and dust storm) is about to begin. The oppressive heat lasts for some days, suffocating and oppressive. Both heat and filth reflect the political atmosphere of Gaza. The author uses them in a very intelligent way as background for this story, but also, I think, as a symbol that expresses the terrible conditions that ordinary people have to endure in that place. On the other hand, Yussef just begins to investigate a murder towards the middle of the story and, although important, we soon see that the most important message has to do with uncovering the corruption and greed of the powerful. Again, Yussef is a small, fragile, insignificant individual facing a much more powerful enemy. Again, the author's political opinion is bluntly expressed through the story. Again, the story goes way beyond the formula of the genre.
2 people found this helpful
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Monster D.
3.0 out of 5 stars dry
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2015
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dry
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