Shams al-Ma'arif Murders (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9789199070421)

In a forgotten bookshop in the heart of a weary town, Salim Waraq-an aging bookseller with a failing heart and a past steeped in secrets-receives a manuscript that should never have resurfaced. Bound in black leather and sealed with ninety-nine corrupted names of God, the book radiates a wrongness older than humanity itself. Its return awakens the Circle of Ninety-Nine, a clandestine cult that has hunted it for centuries, determined to finish the ritual their ancestors began: the resurrection of a false god forged from blasphemy.

As seals break one by one, the town descends into chaos-judges burst into flames, councilmen are unmade, and shadows whisper truths that drive men mad. Each death strengthens the imprisoned entity, each corruption drags reality closer to collapse. To survive, Salim must decipher his late father's cryptic warnings, navigate a labyrinth of Ottoman secrets, and place his trust in Inspector Nadia Mansour and a dying professor who carries the last bloodline of a saint.

But when the Circle closes in and the hundredth name threatens to be spoken, salvation may rest not in strength or knowledge, but in the fragile faith of a child.

Blending mysticism, history, and relentless suspense, Shams al-Ma'arif Murders is a harrowing thriller where every secret revealed brings the world closer to its undoing.