This being the second Osborne book I read (after "On Java Road") left me with mixed feelings. I certainly enjoyed reading it and would recommend it. The parts I found unconvincing and superficial where those that are told with the voice of the Moroccan characters. I simply cannot believe that the Cambridge and Harvard educated Mr Osborne can ever acquire the deep understanding of the people whose inner thoughts he describes, and I do not care in how many countries he has lived and reported from .... On the contrary, unlike other reviews, I thought that the "white mischief" is portrayed very well, and the descriptions of the natural surroundings are very evocative of the harshness and beauty of the Moroccan landscape.
For me, thankfully, there was no tidy moral resolution or atonement at the end of the story .... as, most of the time, in real life.