After the first Gulf War, the sheiks, emirs and kings of the six oil-rich countries that made up the Gulf Co-operation Council, emboldened by the rout of the Iraqi army, were strutting more arrogantly than ever. They harshly and ungraciously treated those that had helped them emerge from the desert into glittering palaces and skyscrapers. Resentment grew and in short order an increasing number of people with different causes and agendas were looking for revenge.

The Brown Envelope Club was formed by one such disaffected group of military contract officers. Having been unceremoniously kicked out of their comfortable jobs from around the Middle East, they wanted to get even. And in Baghdad, an angry dictator also sought retribution.

The above is all true.

From the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, to a lush tropical island in the Caribbean and on to the wet bleakness of a north Devon winter, the Brown Envelope Club traces two stories of revenge, the strands of which came together in the strangest tale of what might have been....

"romps along..." -- South China Morning Post

Christoph Baumer

    

Central Asia today rarely seems central to much of anything aside from geography. Its vast steppes, deserts and mountains are places usually passed over, often from 10,000 meters up.

But it was not always... [ Read full review ]