Wrath of the Caid – Book Two of the Red Hand Adventures
The Wrath of the Caid starts where Rebels of the Kasbah leaves off. We last saw the four friends when they narrowly escaped the Caid. The Caid ruler springs the notorious Black Mamba from prison to find the escapees and kill them. Like a dog on a scent, he’s on to them.
Hiding from the Black Mamba and the Caid army isn’t the end of their ordeal, only the beginning. With many questions unanswered, the friends try to format a plan. But too many “ifs” stand in their way. Would Margaret’s father be found? Would they discover who has been spying on them? Who betrayed their whereabouts? Was it one of them?
They hope to reunite, but with the Black Mamba ready to strike, pirates on the prowl and Caid spies everywhere, there seems little chance. Their ultimate goal is to thwart the Caid’s plan to rule all of Morocco and steal her riches.
The adventures of the foursome continue in an even stickier web of intrigue and danger. When they escape, they are befriended by Malik and his tribe, but this is the start of an even more dangerous path. They are separated when Margaret and her mother return to London while Fez, Tariq, and Aseem head to Morocco to blend in with local urchins and beggars in hopes no one will recognize them. But they are older and wiser and they don’t blend in as they thought they would. Are they sitting ducks if they emerge from their hiding places?
The Caid is everywhere the four friends think to hide, including following Margaret back to England. Margaret learns her father’s life is in danger. Her quest is to return to Morocco to help her father and her friends.
The cast of characters has expanded in the Wrath of the Caid, and the risks multiply as well. We are left wondering who is spying on them.
This reviewer is anxiously awaiting Book Three (Legends of the Rif) to find out who survives and who doesn’t. Will these brave youngsters ever be free of the Caid? Or will everyone succumb to their evil and dastardly ways? – Susan Cornfield