A review by mg_in_md_
An Evil Eye by Jason Goodwin

2.0

Read in conjunction with [b:Arabesk|951085|Arabesk (Cetin Ikmen, #3)|Barbara Nadel|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1335224122s/951085.jpg|936008] for a book club, this was the "old" offering in the "then-and-now" theme, even though it was written more recently. Normally, I enjoy historical fiction mysteries, especially when they are set in countries or during time periods I don't know much about, but I had a very hard time with this one. I felt like I needed to have a deep understanding of Turkey's history before opening this book and was bogged down by all of the elements that were involved in the story. A glossary of terms and/or list of characters would have been immensely helpful, as I kept reading words I didn't know and trying to guess from context what they were (is it a last name? is it an honorific? is this a word I should know but never learned?!). It almost felt like the author was trying to jam in as many historical elements as possible and it was too much for the plot. Unlike with the companion book, I don't feel like I learned very much as a result of reading this book but maybe that is because I was confused for pretty much the entire book. I had to ensure I was reading it with no distractions and giving it my full attention -- and it still didn't help me. I don't think that reading the previous three in the series would have helped either. It's clear that the author knows a great deal about this period of time and Turkey but it didn't translate into a format that those of us without that level of knowledge could easily digest. I'd love to read and learn more about Turkey but I don't think this is the series that will take me on a journey back there.