Called in to investigate the kidnapping of the daughter of one of Algiers' top power-brokers, Superintendent Llob's hunt takes him through fear-filled streets to find Sabrine, and lots besides... From the dens of drug-dealers to the palaces of arms-traffickers, he negotiates the parade of pimps and fundamentalists, prophets and fakis, sodomites, sharks and visionaries...there's no doubt that Llob can swing it. But the random car-bombings, daily carnage and the mutilations endemic to Algiers - to say nothing of escalating threats to his own life - have a way of getting under one's skin...Racy and fast-moving, Khadra's cop is a masterpiece of mocking disenchantment, recalling Raymond Chandler's Marlowe.

Ben Ouda, a senior diplomat, is found savagely murdered. Is this yet another victim of the never ending Islamic fundamentalist violence in Algiers? Inspector Llob has Ben Ouda had too many friends, too many far fetched theories... Navigating the Algiers underworld and rich elite, Inspector Llob resists the pressure of politicians, fundamentalists and crooks in his pursuit, against the background of a world in turmoil.

Brahim Llob, Khadra's policeman-turned-detective writer is summoned by the chief of Algerian police and fired for having published Morituri, the book which the establishment considers dishonorable and full of lies - and in actuality, Yasmina Khadra's previous book in this series.... After revisiting his hometown, Llob becomes the victim of an attack by a GIA commando, and goes back to Algiers. In this third volume of the Inspector Llob series, fiction and reality intermesh against the pervasive violence of war-torn Algeria.

Superintendent Brahim Llob is bored. Nothing seems to need his attention in an unusually peaceful Algiers. Then suddenly peace is shatterd in ways Llob could never have imagined. His subordinate, Lieutenant Lino, falls for an entirely unsuitable woman, and is devastated when she returns to a previous lover, the wealthy and influential Haj Thobane. Thobane survives an attempted murder that kills his chauffeur and Lino's gun is found at the scene. With Lino languishing in prison, it is up to Llob to face down the corrupt echelons of the Algerian goverment to find the truth about what happened the night of the murder. The search will take the world-weary Llob down avenues even he has never encountered and will force him to delve into his beloved country's brutal past.

Alger en hiver. Ce jour-là, le commissaire Llob est d'humeur maussade, et le coup de téléphone qu'il reçoit n'arrange rien. Un mystérieux correspondant le prévient qu'il va commettre un crime. Le Dingue au bistouri, comme la presse ne tarde pas à le surnommer, frappe ainsi les premiers coups de sa sinistre carrière de tueur en série. Est-ce un fou ? Un pervers ? Llob ne le croit pas. Chaque meurtre est froidement prémédité, minutieusement exécuté, et toujours signé. L'homme torture ses victimes, leur arrache le cœur et dépose une étoile noire sur le cadavre. Il doit encore tuer cinq personnes. Commence alors un dialogue de fous entre Llob et le Dingue, triste et tragique rejeton d'Alger la désolée.