The Seventh Victim

About this book

On those freezing nights of the month of Touba, when darkness swallows the streets of the Flowers neighborhood amid power cuts, tales are born unlike the bedtime stories grandmothers told of the ghoul and the ogress. Here, horror wears no legendary mask, but dwells in the details of a human face that decided to grant itself the right of retribution. The journey begins with Neshwa's faltering step toward the private-lessons center, thinking she is going to settle scores with her treacherous heart, only to find herself the first victim in a surreal canvas painted by a mysterious "slayer" who does not content himself with killing, but leaves his eternal signature with a "phoenix" tattoo and burns embodying the numbers of his victims. Events unfold and destinies tangle; from Nadeen whom dreams of livelihood drove into death's trap, to Zeinab the bride whose pleas the killer showed no mercy, reaching the greatest challenge facing investigations chief Issam when his daughter Haneen becomes the hard number in death's equation. Between an artist's brush in love with distortion, hearts wearied by treachery, and an officer.