After the solid-rather-than-sensational Calculus Affair, Herge chalks up another masterpiece here, a brilliant adventure involving weapon smuggling, Arabian coups, exploding planes, sheiks in exile, shoot outs with planes, millionaire yachts, slave trading and submarines. The action never lets up, with Tintin and Haddock in constant danger. The art work remains of an incredible level, with recreations of the Middle East(particularly the hidden city based on Petra), and the action scenes in the Red Sea being particularly good.Long-term fans will be delighted with the way a variety of characters from previous adventures re-appear: Alcazar, Abdullah and his father, Col Muller, Dawson, Wagg, Bianca Castafiore, Alan, etc - it's like this wonderful dividend for reading all the previous books. One bung note - the portrayal of Africans, who on the whole are shown to be simple and stupid. This is the first book to have a really positive portrayal of America in the form of the nice US navy.
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