A very good thriller. And the last couple of chapters could have been and entire book by itself.

It is a good source for overview information on the history of the Middle East, but I find that the author left out many items of interest. Specifically what about Islam outside of the Middle East? Pakistan, India, Bengal, Indonesia, Philippines, et cetera. Also I did not get a good sense of the changes in the Islamic world post the Crusades? How did the indigenous populations of the Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine & Israel change as a result of the defeat of the Crusaders? Lastly how did the Ottoman Empire stagnate so badly? In the 14th-16th centuries the Ottoman Empire was very technologically and culturally advanced, then what happened? That being said, I enjoyed the book.