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Whitefly
The traffickers. The drug dealers. The smugglers.
They know what it takes to get a gun into Morocco, and so does Detective Laafrit.
When a fourth corpse in three days washes up in Tangier with a bullet in the chest, Laafrit knows this isn't just another 'illegal' who didn't make it to the Spanish coast.
As his team hunts for the murder weapon, Laafrit follows a hunch and reveals the killer at the heart of an international conspiracy.
A fast-paced crime thriller from the Arab west.
They know what it takes to get a gun into Morocco, and so does Detective Laafrit.
When a fourth corpse in three days washes up in Tangier with a bullet in the chest, Laafrit knows this isn't just another 'illegal' who didn't make it to the Spanish coast.
As his team hunts for the murder weapon, Laafrit follows a hunch and reveals the killer at the heart of an international conspiracy.
A fast-paced crime thriller from the Arab west.
136 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
5 people are currently reading
258 people want to read
About the author
Abdelilah Hamdouchi
4 books10 followersBorn in Meknès, Morocco, in 1958, Abdelilah Hamdouchi (عبد الإله الحمدوشي) is one of the first writers of police fiction in Arabic and a prolific, award-winning screenwriter of police thrillers, including Whitefly and The Final Bet. He lives in Rabat, Morocco. Benjamin Smith holds a PhD from Harvard University, and is currently a visiting assistant professor of Arabic at Swarthmore College, in the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 27, 2016
It's getting old for me to think about how I'm not a 'mystery' reader. I'll have to start rethinking that part of my identity.
So this book made it into the pile of books that live next to my bed and which each morning I pick up off the floor and place on my bed so I can sit on my spot of the floor where I have decided is the only place aside from sitting at my desk that is a suitable place for sitting. And then when I go to bed at night I move those piles back onto the floor so I can repeat the process in the morning.
In an effort not to actually put those books away, but reduce the number of books I move from place to place everyday I've been trying to only read books in those piles.
This is one of them.
I could have picked a book I have actually been wanting to read. But no, instead I again picked up a mystery novel. Because I don't learn.
It's not that I don't enjoy mystery novels, some I do. But most I don't. The trouble is I either love them or I am left thinking, great job asshole in reading something for no real purpose. I guess I keep reading these in the hope of coming across another gem like Block, Westlake, Tana French, MacDonald or Ellroy. But who am I kidding?
This wasn't a gem. It wasn't terrible though. It was short, and I was able to finish it in one day and get it out of the piles I move every day.
I guess it's interesting because it's set in Tangier, so it has a different cultural perspective on the police procedural. But it also reminded me that straight up police procedurals are probably genre of mystery novels that I am most consistently disappointed in. Maybe it's too many hours of watching all those hour long police dramas on TV that too many of the books don't do all that much for me that watching Law and Order or CSI would do. But they do take up more of my time to get the same result.
I don't know if this is a cultural difference, or maybe it's just me being an American and taking guns for granted. But the total lack of guns in Tangier was weird. To the point that the crux of the case was, if we can just find the one gun in the city we can solve the crime. Are they really that good on having a total ban of firearms there?
I have no idea. The novels fine. There wasn't anything bad about it. I just couldn't get that into it.
So this book made it into the pile of books that live next to my bed and which each morning I pick up off the floor and place on my bed so I can sit on my spot of the floor where I have decided is the only place aside from sitting at my desk that is a suitable place for sitting. And then when I go to bed at night I move those piles back onto the floor so I can repeat the process in the morning.
In an effort not to actually put those books away, but reduce the number of books I move from place to place everyday I've been trying to only read books in those piles.
This is one of them.
I could have picked a book I have actually been wanting to read. But no, instead I again picked up a mystery novel. Because I don't learn.
It's not that I don't enjoy mystery novels, some I do. But most I don't. The trouble is I either love them or I am left thinking, great job asshole in reading something for no real purpose. I guess I keep reading these in the hope of coming across another gem like Block, Westlake, Tana French, MacDonald or Ellroy. But who am I kidding?
This wasn't a gem. It wasn't terrible though. It was short, and I was able to finish it in one day and get it out of the piles I move every day.
I guess it's interesting because it's set in Tangier, so it has a different cultural perspective on the police procedural. But it also reminded me that straight up police procedurals are probably genre of mystery novels that I am most consistently disappointed in. Maybe it's too many hours of watching all those hour long police dramas on TV that too many of the books don't do all that much for me that watching Law and Order or CSI would do. But they do take up more of my time to get the same result.
I don't know if this is a cultural difference, or maybe it's just me being an American and taking guns for granted. But the total lack of guns in Tangier was weird. To the point that the crux of the case was, if we can just find the one gun in the city we can solve the crime. Are they really that good on having a total ban of firearms there?
I have no idea. The novels fine. There wasn't anything bad about it. I just couldn't get that into it.
November 6, 2016
I swear they must have forgotten to print the rest of the book, at least in the copy I bought. Yes. We have (probably) the "who" but so much of the conclusion seems to be missing. I can't fully express my annoyance without spoilers, so I'll stop now, but dang it. I'm so disappointed.
September 2, 2024
A bit of a disappointment. This is a very surface-level mystery. Yes, we get to know Inspector Laafrit and his family a bit, but mostly, we're just following him around Morocco, lightly interviewing people and then hearing about how he's so incredibly stressed out and consumed by this case. The back of the book does an excellent job recounting the main events, but the resolution was not only very obvious after about halfway through, but also ended quite abruptly. Even if there were a few more paragraphs, it would have felt less jarring. Not quite what I thought it would be, but that's okay. It's not a bad book, and not a great one.
January 3, 2023
This was at best just okay. There were scenes where I visualized Eliot Ness coming up on a place. This is advertised as an Arab West crime thriller: the protocols were different, and again there was the visualization of Italy and goons.
It's a short read, and I was bored most of it. Given the storyline, traffickers, etc., it needs a specific audience.
Of note: The book is printed on cheap scratchy paper.
It's a short read, and I was bored most of it. Given the storyline, traffickers, etc., it needs a specific audience.
Of note: The book is printed on cheap scratchy paper.
August 4, 2021
In an effort to expand my knowledge of international publishing, I picked up this book from Morocco. However, it ended up being very unsatisfying. The characters were completely unlikeable, so there was little investment in the story. While the underlying story may have been quite interesting, it was completely undeveloped.
November 4, 2020
Moroccan mystery untangled
Police detective Laafrit in Tangier is given a case of the mysterious bodies washed ashore; one very different from the others. He is tenacious and thorough in his investigation. His search takes him from one end of Morocco to the other, and even across the Straight of Gibraltar to Spain. From nightclubs to farming fields, he doesn't stop until he solves the mystery.
I enjoyed the story. I looked up a couple words that I didn't know. The whole theory behind the mystery was fantastical, but believable. I gave it 4 stars because I thought it ended too abruptly with some plot strings unattended.
Police detective Laafrit in Tangier is given a case of the mysterious bodies washed ashore; one very different from the others. He is tenacious and thorough in his investigation. His search takes him from one end of Morocco to the other, and even across the Straight of Gibraltar to Spain. From nightclubs to farming fields, he doesn't stop until he solves the mystery.
I enjoyed the story. I looked up a couple words that I didn't know. The whole theory behind the mystery was fantastical, but believable. I gave it 4 stars because I thought it ended too abruptly with some plot strings unattended.
February 12, 2018
What made this detective-crime novel interesting was that it was set in Morocco. It was very appealing to read about the location and culture. However, that was it. The actual story was a bit disjointed, and it did not follow a clear line of investigation. The ending was so strange, it left me feeling as if the last chapter was accidentally left out at printing. If you want to get a taste of Moroccan life, culture, and customs, and do not mind an imperfect detective story, than this one is for you.
January 15, 2018
This was a quick mystery read that introduced a relationship between Morocco and Spain. Got a sampling of the underworld via detectives.
July 2, 2020
Not exactly the most satisfying mystery I've ever read. It just kind of ends.
January 3, 2022
This book was good up until the end. The author just threw away the ending and half of the characters in the book didn't even matter in the end. Wouldn't read unless you want to be disappointed.
April 9, 2023
I really enjoyed the book and there were some points of wisdom. The ending was smart but it didn’t feel close enough to the character story. bled dry was better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2023
I like this author’s voice. I live in Morocco and I can vouch for the authenticity of his story. If you are traveling to Morocco and want insight into the culture, read Hamdouchi.
I wish that his novels were available in the original French.
I wish that his novels were available in the original French.
November 9, 2025
3.5 stars
It just ends! Kind of wish there was a sequel, but if there is, it hasn’t been translated to English yet. Oh well.
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My Resource Review write-up for my Adult Resources and Services class
Hamdouchi, Abdelilah. Whitefly. 2000. (Translated to English in 2016). Police/Crime Thriller.
The story is set-in modern-day Tangier, Morocco, a city near the Strait of Gibraltar. Corpses have been washing ashore, the most recent of which has also been shot. (This is significant because guns are illegal in Morocco.) Initially believed to be drowned Moroccan immigrants trying to cross to Spain illegally for work, the investigation widens, as the main character Detective Laafrit, learns more about the victims and a broader international conspiracy they unwittingly discovered and resulted in their deaths.
This mystery encompasses multiple subgenres and potential areas of interest. It is a police/crime thriller that involves the main character as the primary investigator with the hierarchy and resources of law enforcement. It is translated fiction based in another country by an author from that country. For those who read a lot of translated fiction, it could be of interest to see another country’s approach to this popular genre. While slow to start the story picks up its pace making more of a thriller, with a clear villain and international scope by the end of the story. These story elements are what drew me to this book and kept me reading until the end. The ending is abrupt, which is unsatisfying for a self-contained mystery, but could be more acceptable as a thriller, since the book straddles the line between the two genres.
Some of the less appealing parts of the story may be related to the fact it is a traditional somewhat dark crime novel. There were tinges of misogyny and casual cruelty from the police characters. Perhaps this could be considered intentional character traits, but having read other dark mystery/thriller crime fiction written by and starring men, I think it is something that comes with the territory. I personally can still engage with the story even with these elements present, but it does make it more difficult for me to recommend the book more broadly, without these caveats.
For those who do read and like this, I would recommend one of the author’s other translated works. Bled Dry is the first of two stories following the character Detective Hanash, which focuses on a double murder in Casablanca and seems to be as dark as Whitefly. Another translated mystery/thriller to consider is Irène by Pierre Lemaitre. It is translated from the French and is the first in his series following police detective Camille Verhoeven. The dark thriller elements are ramped up significantly in this novel following a murderer whose victims’ deaths each pay “homage to a classic crime novel.”*
*From book summary
It just ends! Kind of wish there was a sequel, but if there is, it hasn’t been translated to English yet. Oh well.
------------
My Resource Review write-up for my Adult Resources and Services class
Hamdouchi, Abdelilah. Whitefly. 2000. (Translated to English in 2016). Police/Crime Thriller.
The story is set-in modern-day Tangier, Morocco, a city near the Strait of Gibraltar. Corpses have been washing ashore, the most recent of which has also been shot. (This is significant because guns are illegal in Morocco.) Initially believed to be drowned Moroccan immigrants trying to cross to Spain illegally for work, the investigation widens, as the main character Detective Laafrit, learns more about the victims and a broader international conspiracy they unwittingly discovered and resulted in their deaths.
This mystery encompasses multiple subgenres and potential areas of interest. It is a police/crime thriller that involves the main character as the primary investigator with the hierarchy and resources of law enforcement. It is translated fiction based in another country by an author from that country. For those who read a lot of translated fiction, it could be of interest to see another country’s approach to this popular genre. While slow to start the story picks up its pace making more of a thriller, with a clear villain and international scope by the end of the story. These story elements are what drew me to this book and kept me reading until the end. The ending is abrupt, which is unsatisfying for a self-contained mystery, but could be more acceptable as a thriller, since the book straddles the line between the two genres.
Some of the less appealing parts of the story may be related to the fact it is a traditional somewhat dark crime novel. There were tinges of misogyny and casual cruelty from the police characters. Perhaps this could be considered intentional character traits, but having read other dark mystery/thriller crime fiction written by and starring men, I think it is something that comes with the territory. I personally can still engage with the story even with these elements present, but it does make it more difficult for me to recommend the book more broadly, without these caveats.
For those who do read and like this, I would recommend one of the author’s other translated works. Bled Dry is the first of two stories following the character Detective Hanash, which focuses on a double murder in Casablanca and seems to be as dark as Whitefly. Another translated mystery/thriller to consider is Irène by Pierre Lemaitre. It is translated from the French and is the first in his series following police detective Camille Verhoeven. The dark thriller elements are ramped up significantly in this novel following a murderer whose victims’ deaths each pay “homage to a classic crime novel.”*
*From book summary
September 3, 2016
I picked randomly this story honestly It is a small book with a catchy title about Morocco: I was curious... I wasn't disappointed.
I like laafrit as detective. the plot is interesting keep you guessing and wondering
I'm Arab native but I find it hard to keep with the character names and the cities names.
I like laafrit as detective. the plot is interesting keep you guessing and wondering
I'm Arab native but I find it hard to keep with the character names and the cities names.
August 8, 2016
Full review to come
August 29, 2019
Interesting book
Book chosen by my book club. Interesting to read about the culture in Morocco. Had an unexpected twist at the end.
Book chosen by my book club. Interesting to read about the culture in Morocco. Had an unexpected twist at the end.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews