'Allat tal-Qerq'

Author: Ben Agius

Publisher: Horizons / 2024

Pages: 234

We all remember how some time after there was a change of government in 2013 and a short time after the inauguration of Mater Dei Hospital, the new government deflated the national pride with the new hospital announcing that serious defects had been found in the structure because of insufficient cement in the ceiling and columns.

We might also somewhat dimly remember there was a threat of court action countered then with a waiver of some sort. And there the matter ended, for most of us.

On this background author Ben Agius has built an imaginary thriller. This is not the first book by this author, following such books as Iben il-Quisling, Angli u Xjaten and Taht il-Qilla tal-Iswastika.

This thriller begins in a coma - Sam has been involved in a car accident in which his wife and his young daughter had been killed.

He has lost his memory and cannot recall anything about the accident, even though he deeply wishes to understand. Nor can he remember anything about his previous life.

Before the accident he had been the engineer involved in the building of the new hospital.

Now he was out of a job, his email had been blocked and his work taken over by others.

And yet there was someone determined to kill him and to finish off the whole story.

He is nothing if not determined and the more blocked doors he finds make him more and more determined to find out the truth.

Then he starts to remember bits and pieces but they're all mixed up.

What was the state of his relationship with his wife? And with her sister the artist?

And what happened to his psychiatrist?

His former assistant had disappeared too and when Sam came to a sort of tentative solution it turned out to be false, hurting many people in the process.

Against all odds Sam does not give up.

Then the action shifts to the other side of the channel and the danger becomes much bigger.

A page-turner.