Steven Barclay

A realistic description of life in Egypt tangled with a thread of mystery.

The first thing that struck me as I read Barclay's The Crescent Dunes was the sense of realism and accuracy in the description of the places and the culture of Egypt. Having recently moved there for a short while to work in an international school, all the things that I had noted (and that had given me cause to struggle to settle in) were there in the pages of the book and lent a familiarity to the setting that I might show more not ordinarily have appreciated quite so much. However, Barclay still manages to maintain an air of romanticism in his depiction of a country struggling both socially and economically.

As far as the plot of the book is concerned, I feel that this was less well executed. In attempting to keep the truth of Colbrook's mission a mystery, I think Barclay confounds the reader, throwing in more than one red herring as to what is truly going on, and after a certain number of times of this happening, I found myself throwing up my hands in frustrating and deciding just to read it and not try to figure anything out any more. This diminished my involvement with the book and made my engagement with the main character a little strained. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book, just that I would have enjoyed it more if there had been clues to follow, leading the reader to be able to work out just who Colbrook was, and what he was up to – delivering a sense of satisfaction at having been with him 'every step of the way,' rather than being dragged along behind him as it seemed many of the other characters (particularly the Egyptologist, Beckwith) were.

Barclay's strength is definitely in his prowess at providing descriptive passages, which dominate at least two thirds of the novel, the remaining third is a somewhat confusing roller coaster ride of twisting action and adventure which, at times, hovers dangerously close to be overdone. While I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, I did lose patience with it toward the end. show less

I quite enjoyed this but felt it was too convoluted and set itself out to be a little too mysterious in that so many things didn't make sense until the end.

The Egyptian setting was well described with the sun, dry heat and sand permeating everything and the atmosphere felt right with the local scene being well set.

But the main character Colbrook was too impersonal for me to care. He is apart from the others, and should be, but he didn't have enough personality for me to engage with him.

The show more denouement was kept to the end, in fine Agatha Christie tradition with very little being revealed on the way. But by the time we got there I wasn't really bothered by the who/what/where/why so. The twists and turns along the way were good, but there wasn't enough reveal to lead you on.

I found this book frustrating as I felt it was capable of being a lot better and that it wouldn't have taken that much to make it so. show less

Barclay can write well and he is very good at providing detailed descriptions. The information about Egypt is very interesting but the characters could have used some development. He kept me engaged simply because I did want to know how it ended, even if at times I was confused. The author needed a better balance between description and storytelling.

The setting of The Crescent Dunes is wonderfully detailed. A sure draw for any reader entrapped by Egyptology. However the plot was confusing. I was left feeling that I had no clear idea of exactly who the main character was until the very end. The mystery began moving along nicely in the final third of the book.