Middle East journey

It is pleasing to see expatriates putting pen to paper and releasing books that convey their thoughts on the UAE and the Gulf region. Last year, there was Stephen Wilkins's Dubai Creek, a reasonably entertaining if slightly cumbersome novel set in the Gulf's fastest-growing city.

And now Greg Hunt, a publisher and journalist, has given us They Saddle Dogs, an account of a journey by car from the UAE to his native United Kingdom.

Hunt's debut book, subtitled A Journey from East to West - published in Dubai by Jerboa Books, which is linked to the bookshop chain Magrudy's - is based on an intriguing idea. Hunt was asked by his dying father to bring home a plant, dogsbane, that the old man hoped would hasten his death.

Instead of flying back to Britain with his precious cargo, Hunt decided to find a travelling companion and set off in a four-wheel drive.

On the way home, the intrepid pair passed through Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Italy, among other places, and had all sorts of adventures, from trying to run down a petrol pump attendant to experiencing nitrogen narcosis in the Red Sea.

There are also some interesting tales from Hunt's earlier days, such as the time when he spoke to an Imam about Salman Rushdie's controversial tome The Satanic Verses, and the frightening occasion when he got caught up in a demonstration in Kuwait before the first Gulf War.

Hunt has a sense of honesty and openness in print that is quite refreshing. The last few pages, which narrate what happens to Hunt after he reaches England, are very powerful and probably contain the book's best writing.

On the other hand, They Saddle Dogs could have been a better book if some of the prose had been sharpened and carefully edited.

At times, the writing can be awkward to read. Commas and semi-colons are often used carelessly, which distract the reader and make the text jarring instead of having it flow. Also, Hunt constantly moves between tenses during his narrative. Who knows whether this is a literary device or simple carelessness but either way, it compounds the punctuation problems and reduces the reader's enjoyment of the book.

On a few occasions, the author goes into over-detailed asides that, instead of being woven seamlessly into the narrative, stick out like chunks of a textbook dropped in the middle of a novel.If a professional book editor had gotten his teeth into the raw version of They Saddle Dogs, it could have been improved considerably. The finished piece reads a bit like an early draft rather than a polished final version.

Overall though, despite being a bit rough around the edges, They Saddle Dogs is a memorable work by a writer with a very distinctive voice and with an amazing story to tell.

A journey like Hunt's through the Middle East will capture the imagination of anyone with even a passing interest in the region. Hunt apparently has two more books in the pipeline, including one about Dubai and the UAE.

After reading They Saddle Dogs, I for one am looking forward to reading his next no-holds-barred offering.