Matt Rees is a Welsh novelist and journalist. He is the author of The Palestine Quartet, a series of crime novels about Omar Yussef, a Palestinian sleuth, and of historical novels and thrillers. He is the winner of a Crime Writers Association Dagger for his crime fiction in the UK and a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for fiction in the US. His latest novel is the international thriller China Strike, the second in a series about an agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
His first book was a work of nonfiction, Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East in 2004 (Free Press), about Israeli and Palestinian societies.
The New York Times called The Collaborator of Bethlehem, the first of his Palestinian crime novels about Bethlehem sleuth Omar Yussef, "an astonishing first novel." 'Le Figaro called the book "a masterpiece." Rees's writing has been compared with the work of Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Georges Simenon and Henning Mankell. The French magazine L'Express called him "the Dashiell Hammett of Palestine." Rees's books have sold in 25 languages.
Rees was born in Newport, Wales. As a journalist, Rees covered the Middle East and lived in Jerusalem for 20 years. He was TIME's Jerusalem bureau chief from 2000 until 2006, writing award-winning stories about the Palestinian intifada. He also worked as Middle East correspondent for The Scotsman and Newsweek. He is married to the American humorist and author Devorah Blachor.
Omar Yussef har undervist muslimske og kristne børn i historie på en FN-skole i Betlehem i årtier. Han er kendt som en temperamentsfuld og idealistisk lærer med et humanistisk livssyn, som har holdt sin sti ren i de barske og voldelige miljøer i de besatte områder. Glæden ved god mad og smukke kvinder er intakt, selv om han har måttet lægge alkoholen på hylden. Livet med den elskelige kone Maryam, børn og børnebørn gør kort sagt hverdagen nogenlunde fredelig og tålelig, indtil en af Omars tidligere elever, den kristne George Saba, arresteres af de palæstinensiske myndigheder og anklages for at have samarbejdet med israelerne om at myrde en palæstinensisk guerillaleder fra Aqsa Martyrernes Brigade. Straffen for forræderi er døden, men Omar er overbevist om Georges uskyld. Omars gamle ven, den fordrukne politimester i Betlehem, er ikke til megen hjælp, for også han er tydeligvis mere interesseret i en syndebuk end i retfærdighed. Omar tager sagen i egen hånd og fatter snart mistanke til Brigadens frygtede anfører, som sammen med sine håndlangere leder en flok såkaldte frihedskæmpere, der spreder lige så meget skræk og rædsel blandt Betlehems indbyggere som hos israelerne.
Lydbogen er indl.æst af Torsten Adler
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