An IT security consultant and nightclub owner believes that there is a serial killer behind the apparently random and accidental deaths of Turkish transvestites. As not even his boyhood friend who is now very high up in the police believes him, he decides to investigate the deaths himself.

The un-named narrator and other characters were fun to spend time with and many of them have potential as recurring characters in the series. However, although this was the first published it was actually the second written in the series, so I don't know if they do recur.

It became fairly obvious quite early on who the murderer was, so the emphasis was more on the investigation, which proceeded for a long time based on nothing much more than the narrator's hunch.

I definitely felt the lack of a pronunciation guide for the Turkish names and there were far too many misprints.

I did get the first written/second published in the series to read another time, but not just yet. ( )

Strange book.

Someone is killing transvestites in Istanbul. Each of their 'real' names is that of one of the Prophets. The sleuth is another transvestite who is an IT geek by day and a Transvestite Nightclub Manager by night. The actual 'whodonit' aspect of the book is pretty straightforward (no pun intended), but the interest of the book is the backdrop of 'the girls' and their lives - not exactly my area of expertise.

Quite enjoyed it, but won't be rushing off to search out others in the series.
( )

This is a contemporary tale told from the perspective of its un-named narrator who is a transvestite computer expert and club owner in Istanbul. The book opens with the narrator hearing news of the death of a fellow transvestite in a fire in an abandoned apartment building. The next day another of the transvestite community is found murdered, this time by drowning in a well. Soon the small but fiercely loyal transvestite community in the city is fearful that any of them who have the name of a prophet is in danger of a horrid death.

I like stories that show me worlds different to my own and ones which feature any kind of community that separates itself or is separated from the mainstream are interesting to me and the glimpse into the world of drag queens and transvestites was quite fascinating. As with all good books that feature such groups, whether it be an obscure religious group like the Amish or an alternative sub culture like this, the book goes beyond stereotypes and shows genuine characters going about their daily lives and having roughly the same worries as the rest of us.

However, the book really isn’t a great example of crime fiction. The ‘investigation’ such as it is moves slowly and relies almost entirely on guesswork by the unnamed narrator who seems to have the chief of police at her beck and call (they were at school together which really doesn’t quite explain why he provides her access to all sorts of things which she shouldn’t have). To solve the crimes our fearless narrator then engages in one of those silly I’ll put myself in danger and see how things turn out scenarios that always make me groan.

In fact I really didn’t like the narrator, she is instantly judgmental about other people based on their appearance and is one of those people who sing their own praises endlessly which I find just as tiresome in fiction as I do in real life. However she is undoubtedly a realistic depiction and she does look after ‘her girls’ very fiercely. But feeling the way I did about the person who features in all of the action in the book made it a bit difficult for me to get truly swept away in the story as I kept gritting my teeth at her arrogance.

I don’t think this is the book for die-hard crime fiction fans but if you want a break from hard-boiled procedurals then you might like this realistic glimpse into a world I imagine few of us know much about ( )

Une plongée dans l'univers des travestis à Istanbul. Le héros est un informaticien de génie qui se substitue aux forces de l'ordre peu portées à s'intéresser à l'underworld travesti. Une manière a priori originale de décrire la société turque, loin des archétypes, mais au fond le traitement narratif est assez banal pour ce genre de littérature et cela manque de souffle et de profondeur. ( )

Warning may not be PC, read at your own risk.

This is a mystery set in modern day Istanbul. The main character and the murder victims are all transvestites. Its a very odd book. There is a mystery, and lots of details on transvestites and the world they live in.

Sometimes they are men, and sometimes they are women. They seem to have sex with men, so I guess they are gay, but perhaps if they think they are women its not gay. My head spins and I need to lie down when I try to sort it out. In any case the book is not for the faint of heart or those who can't deal with sex/gay sex in books.

The premise is that there are girls in the community who are being killed in horrible ways. The police don't care, and don't really investigate. The main character runs a night club where the transvestites work. She becomes enraged when she hears of the deaths, and starts to snoop around. She views herself as the mother hen ( and superior to all) of the girls who work or hang at the club. By day, he is a computer security guru, though everyone knows that he is also a she, and gay. Both she and he are into kick-boxing and martial arts.

The murdered girls all seem to have their male name as one of the Muslim Prophets, and they die as the prophet did, or how the enemies tried to kill him. Throughout the book the main character, who remains nameless, goes through the girls that she knows and works with, in an effort to find any information that will help her find the killer. She has a friend high in the police, though he is more ceremonial than a crime fighter and she finds a rich businessman as a love interest. She also develops an uneasy relationship with a crippled, masochistic, religious fundamentalist hacker who stalks her on-line and is willing to trade information for sex and violence.

The characters are interesting if a bit cloying in terms of the transvestites' reactions. They all scream, shriek, tweet at the drop of a hat, like they were chew toys being stepped on, and the other person may just have said 'hello'. Very campy, and melodramatic. Not sure if its authentic or just the author's overheated imagination, or inability to dramatize mundane transvestite physicality. The main character is also not very nice. She is cutting, bossy, demanding, likes to demean people, and will even resort to violence if she feels provoked. Not touched or even threatened mind you, just vexed.

I ask myself do I dislike the POV because of the behavior, or because of the behavior coming from a woman ? If she were a straight man throughout the book, would I still be so critical, or would I just accept it as slightly boorish, but believable male behavior ? Or does my dislike stem from the fact that she may dress and gesture like a woman, but she isn't authentically one. Just a veneer and its shallowness is insulting to real women who would never behave in the way she does ? I don't have an answer but the book makes me think about it. It also raises questions about perception, reality, gender roles, and the range of acceptable behavior.

The mystery is interesting if a bit limited due to the fact that the POV isn't in the police, and has very few sources of official information. She decides who the killer is, and looks for proof, rather than taking the evidence and looking for the killer.

The writing is not bad at all, and the translation is good, although there are a few strange words and phrases.

It is a very odd, interesting and edgy book. I have the next and if it is as good as this one will keep reading the series because I like to experience things that I never could in real life. I also like to broaden my reading and outlook. ( )