Twelve years of ferocious poker for the highest of stakes after an initial hand was dealt by chance one cold December day in 1921—seemingly by chance, to pass the time that gray afternoon in Jerusalem when the sky was heavily overcast and wind whipped through the alleys, snow definitely in the air.

Of course he had to be always bluffing, but outsiders found it next to impossible to outguess a man who could honestly say he didn't know what he was holding. Badly damaged, it is sent to Paris for restoration, and there literary historian Hugo Pineau begins to read the startling 14th-century text.Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie combines a ferociously witty family saga with a surreally imagined and sometimes blasphemous chronicle of modern India and flavors the mixture with peppery soliloquies on art, ethnicity, religious fanaticism, and the terrifying power of love. The premise of this book is excellent; a Christian, Jew and Muslim play poker for twelve years to determine who gains control over Jerusalem.

He also satirizes the espionage and clandestine operations mocking the power of totalitarian states. And now that you know all that, you can see it's not just because of the weather that I'm sagging today. His death could easily go unnoticed as Rommel's tanks charge through the desert in an attempt to open the Middle East to Hitler's forces. Kikuchi pressed the button once more to reveal a third face, also normal in appearance but with both hands seemingly stationary.Master spies from three countries converge on Joe O'Sullivan Beare, who is closer to Stern than anyone, in an effort to unravel the disturbing puzzle.

If you like Pynchon but prefer a slightly more realistic, less-{in love with his own cleverness} style, try this---maybe we can get this back in print. Jerusalem Poker is the second volume of the Jerusalem Quartet, which begins with Sinai Tapestry and continues with Nile Shadows and Jericho Mosaic. A 40-year-old schoolteacher from Ohio still reeling from the tragedies of the Great War and the influenza epidemic, Agnes has come into a modest inheritance that allows her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land. And since that was the middle of the last century, perhaps the time has come to put aside the memory of your fallen comrades. And speaking of the last century, why not put your painful Crimean experiences behind you and try your luck today with a spot of cards in Jerusalem?

But in any case here we are on the last day of December, a cold afternoon with snow definitely in the air, a new year upon us tomorrow.