Naguib Mahfouz's haunting novella of post-revolutionary Egypt
combines a vivid pychological portrait of an anguished man with the
suspense and rapid pace of a detective story.
After four years in prison, the skilled young thief Said Mahran
emerges bent on revenge. He finds a world that has changed in more
ways than one. Egypt has undergone a revolution and, on a more
personal level, his beloved wife and his trusted henchman, who
conspired to betray him to the police, are now married to each
other and are keeping his six-year-old daughter from him. But in
the most bitter betrayal, his mentor, Rauf Ilwan, once a firebrand
revolutionary who convinced Said that stealing from the rich in a
unjust society is an act of justice, is now himself a rich man, a
respected newspaper editor who wants nothing to do with the
disgraced Said. As Said's wild attempts to achieve his idea of
justice badly misfire, he becomes a hunted man so driven by hatred
that he can only recognize too late his last chance at
redemption.