Blood on the Desert sizzles.
A Peter Rabe novel is a tight, fiercely intense novel. I loved Rabe's The Box set in North Africa so I picked up Blood on the Desert, a tale also set in North Africa, specifically in the cities, towns and desert of Tunisia.
Blood on the Desert
revolves around espionage, not the type of story I'm usually attracted
to, and that's understatement. I've never read a novel by John le Carré
or Robert Ludlum. I tried but I simply can not get into the whole spy
vs. spy thing. But I did become absorbed in Blood on the Desert since it's Peter Rabe and North Africa.
The
main character is Anthony Wheeler, an America raised in Berlin
(Wheeler's father was an American industrialist doing business in
Germany). When Wheeler hit his teenage years, the Nazis came to power.
Wheeler's father was killed and young Wheeler needed to flee Germany and
the man who helped him escape into Switzerland was British agent
Fairchild.
Fairchild and Wheeler became friends and Fairchild
introduced Wheeler to the world of espionage. Anthony Wheeler performed
various assignments throughout Europe and North Africa for the next
dozen years before leaving the service and returning to the United
States.
All this is backstory. Blood on the Sand opens
with a Major Pitt meeting with Wheeler in Geneva to discuss a delicate
development in Tunisia involving oil, arms and three powerful Arabs.
Major Pitt describes the situation requires someone with Wheeler's
background and abilities to pose as a Canadian oil company employee to
find out what those Arabs are up to.
Major Pitt also explains
how Fairchild has turned up in Tunisia since Fairchild now works as an
oil company executive following his departure from the secret service.
Additionally, to add another level of complexity, the Americans have a
decided interest in these political developments and are sending an
agent of their own, an agent by the name of Curtis Ellis.
Thus
we have the story's framework. Although initially reluctant, especially
since Fairchild is on the scene, Wheeler accepts the assignment and
travels to Tunisia.
As might be expected, Wheeler eventually
meets Fairchild, a man who served Wheeler in his younger years as both
guide and father figure. The thick plottens, bringing to mind that
famous E.M. Forster quote: “If I had to choose between betraying my
country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray
my country.”
Vintage Peter Rabe: we're kept in suspense on which
way Anthony Wheeler with turn right up until the final page. There's
good reason why the publisher calls this novel a thriller.
Not for me to divulge details of this spine tingler. But I can share a quartet of my favorite Wheeler whirls:
Tense
Taxi Ride: Once in an Arab port city, Wheeler needs to find a local
prostitute, not for sex but other reasons. He hires a cab, tells the
driver to find the next such lady on the street. The driver mumble
something in Arabic, immediately turns off the main avenue and zooms
toward the harbor, through streets becoming rapidly less and less
European. Wheeler says, “You passed one.” The driver ignores Wheeler and
zips along. “You're passing another one.” Wheeler realizes the driver
has plans of his own for his European passenger.
Wheeler sits
forward and pulls the man's beret over his eyes. The driver has to stop.
Wheeler yanks the beret off and holds up his hand. With a click a
switchblade opens very close to the man's eyes. Wheeler says, “You will
remember won't you, to do only what I ask of you.”
This exchange
is one of many in Wheeler's dealing with the Arabs. Peter Rabe catches
the flavor of what it means for someone in Wheeler's position to move
among the peoples of Tunisia.
Warm and Sensuous: An Arab friend
treats Wheeler to the delights of the evening. Lovely ladies enter to
perform on instruments and dance. They offer Wheeler fruit and wine.
Amid the rhythms of the music, one dancer moves close to Wheeler. Naked
down to her waist, she sways her hips and moves even closer and
eventually sits beside him.
“The music did not stop playing and
the girl next to Wheeler hummed with it while she opened her belt. It
made all the scarves fall away and the girl lay down on the cushions.
The light from the lamp made a sheen on her thighs and on her belly, a
sheen which moved with her motion. She reached one hand out for
Wheeler's cheek and kept humming. Then it was a long and warm night...”
Mighty
Mouth: American agent Curtis Ellis is obliged to ride in a jeep across
the desert with Wheeler and his driver. Ellis blabs that he's with the
State Department on confidential work. More mindless Ellis blabber and
Wheeler conveys to the guileless American how easy it would be to slit
his throat, take his money and leave him out in the middle of the
desert. Ellis begins to object but soon realizes when the Jeep begins to
slow down just how unwise it is to go through life mouth first.
Nasty
Surprise: Wheeler returns to his hotel room – there's blood on the
floor. When Wheeler crosses the room he can see the knife is still in
the man. There's a deep slash in his jugular but the knife is now in his
chest. Wheeler says, “Hold still. For heaven's sake stop rolling on
it.” And then...for each reader to discover.
On to my next Peter Rabe thriller. This guy's terrific. 
The above Stark House Press is the book you want, a handsome edition that includes a second Rabe thriller, A House in Naples, as well as an essay on the life and writing of Peter Rabe by noir fiction expert George Tuttle.
German American author Peter Rabe, 1921-1990
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