The Final Bet

A Modern Arabic Novel from Morocco
By Abdelilah Hamdouchi

REVIEW

'Othman, a handsome young Moroccan man, returns home to discover his elderly French wife, Sofia, brutally murdered in their bedroom. Educated but unemployed, Othman had been in desperate straits before meeting Sofia, who pampered him with fancy cars, expensive clothes, and access to her mansion in the most exclusive neighbourhood in Casablanca. But living with a woman more than forty years his senior proved too much for him — before his wife’s murder he sought relief in a steamy affair with an attractive young aerobics instructor, Naeema. The police quickly zero in on Othman as the prime suspect in his wife’s murder. But is he guilty? Did he kill his wife for the money and his lover? Or is he an innocent man, framed by circumstance and at the mercy of an overzealous and brutal police force?' - The Middle East, January 2010

Abdelilah Hamdouchi’s The Final Bet is the first Arabic detective novel to be translated into English. With it, Hamdouchi joins the ranks of Yasmina Khadra and Henning Mankell, finally bringing the modern Arabic novel to the global stage of detective fiction. Abdelilah Hamdouchi is one of the first writers of Arabic-language detective fiction. The author of eight novels, Hamdouchi is also an award-winning screenwriter for Moroccan television and cinema. All of his crime novels, including The Final Bet, have been produced for Moroccan television. He lives in Rabat, Morocco.

Review from The New Internationalist - April 2009

http://www.newint.org/columns/media/books/2009/04/01/final-bet/

Review from The Complete Review

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/maroc/hamdoua.htm