Review
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Title: The White Bedouin
Author: George Potter
Publisher: Cedar Fort
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2007
Number of Pages: 319
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-59955-074-9
Price: $16.99

Review by Karen Hamilton

For journalist student, Jake Sorensen, getting a summer internship with the PAMMCO Magazine in Saudi Arabia is a dream come true. He is able to learn how magazines are both a team and an individual effort. When he meets two Americans, who have been in the country for over twenty years, he learns of an evil that stalks a part of the desert named the Great Empty Quarter. The two Americans are Oilmen and have been in many of the deserts of Saudi Arabia and tell the tale of their narrow escape from death and their rescue by the” White Bedouin”. Jake is intrigued and sets out to learn all he can about him.

In his search for answers he comes across oil pioneer Stephen Markham, who mysteriously disappeared shortly before his contract was over. The company files are old, dusty and provide little information. Jake is even more determined to find out all he can about the two men, one Stephen Markham and the other the White Bedouin. His search leads him to unlikely sources, all in his quest for answers. Jake is able to piece together bits of Markham’s last assignment in Saudi Arabia before Markham is declared lost, and presumed dead.

Stephen Markham finds himself in Saudi Arabia working for CALTOC, during the Depression, looking for oil in the sands of Arabia. The people and the culture are completely foreign and a large unknown. As he adjusts to the environment, he finds himself assigned to a solo expedition to the deep end of the desert. As Stephen works in an area of the desert known as the Empty Quarter, he learns to love and respect the local nomadic Bedouin tribes. Time passes and he becomes friends with Al-Ibrahim, who is the leader of his tribe. He begins to fall for Al-Ibrahim’s favorite daughter and is torn between his and her worlds. He meets two German Biblical scholars who are working for Hitler and are attempting to follow the trail of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.

What could convince a man to go into the deep end of the desert, fall in love, give up all he is and still believe in a loving God? This book was fun to read and hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and have dreams of visiting the enchanting places that the story is based on. The one interesting surprise I had while reading this book were the quotes from numerous religious sources. The informational and historical footnotes did not detract from the story. This is a VERY satisfying read and HIGHLY recommended.