Raymond Khoury mixes alternative history with political science, human emotions, and time travel to give us a wonderful and fascinating book. This review starts with how I found Empire of Lies.

I was perusing NetGalley to see if they had any books of interest They provide advance reading copies (ARCs) for free and just ask for a review in return. I had found several books there this year and the latest finds were nonfiction so I was ready for a good fiction book.

So in looking through the many books available on Netgalley found one by Raymond Khoury. I had read several of his books years ago and enjoyed them so I thought I would try Empire of Lies.

I read the Kindle edition so the link to Amazon with the picture of the book will take you to that edition but you can easily switch to the hardback if that is your preference.

I found the book a bit hard to get into. The prologue and first few chapters were interesting but I just wasn’t sure where this was going. But since I had enjoyed some of his previous books, I thought it worth reading on and after a little more reading I was totally into the story and understood the importance of the earlier parts.

The story really takes off once you realize the importance of time travel in this alternative history where the Ottoman empire rules Europe and then even more so as the empire tries to maintain its power and then a few of its subjects try to change history again. It makes for a great thriller.

Along the way, you learn about Ottoman society, enjoy well developed characters and listen to interesting discussions about the best form of government. I highly recommend Empire of Lies by Raymond Khoury.