As usual, Barbara Nadel's books are fascinating. Naturally, the plot is important, but especially in this book, I also enjoy the setting and the characters at least as much. My only complaint is that I guessed early on who was behind the murders and roughly what had set them off. Usually, that would ruin my reading experience. This time, it didn't really matter. There was enough to interest me anyway. ( )

Bizzarre ritualistic murders of young people are occurring in different sections of the city. A pattern is emerging that seems to connect these young people with the occult. Cetin Ikmen and Mehmet Suleyman work together trying to find the perpetrators of these crimes. The reader would have to believe somewhat in magic in order to get the feeling for novel. I don't. ( )

The young go to extremes to get their kicks nowadays. A naked teenage girl is found dead near the beautiful Byzantine Yoros Castle in Turkey. She has stabbed herself through the heart but there is evidence of bizarre sexual practice. In another part of Istanbul, a young boy seems to have committed suicide in similar circumstances. What dark rituals could have compelled them to fatal self abuse? Inspectors Cetin Ikmen and Mehmet Suleyman follow an internet trail that leads them to an underworld of Goth nightclubs and Satanic worship. But even those murky shadows hide more than they reveal and the answers to an ever increasing number of suspicious deaths is more shocking and terrible than they could ever have imagined.
Police Inspectors Cetin Ikmen and Mehmet Suleyman are attached to the case with orders from on high to clean up the city as soon as possible. An English friend of both the men, Maximillian, seems to be deeply involved and, as he not only has connections to the murdered teenagers but is also a magician, steeped in the traditions of Kabbalah, an ancient Hebrew practice, he is immediately suspected of involvement with the killings. Obscene drawings have been plastered over the walls of local churches, mosques and temples, adding to the general fear that Satanism is being practiced and that the local young people are being drawn into a cult that is more dangerous than romantic.
The Turkish setting is exotic and the characters interesting. I've read others by Nadel with Inspector Suleyman as the lead and they're workmanlike efforts. ( )