Matt Rees

This article is about the novelist and former journalist. For the Welsh comedian, see Matt Rees (comedian). For the rugby player, see Matthew Rees. For the actor, see Matthew Rhys.

Matthew Beynon Rees is a Welsh novelist and journalist. He is the author of The Palestine Quartet, a series of crime novels about Omar Yussef, a Palestinian sleuth, and of historical novels and thrillers. He is the winner of a Crime Writers Association Dagger for his crime fiction in the UK and a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for fiction in the US.[1] His latest novel is the international thriller China Strike, the second in a series about an agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[2]

His first book was a work of nonfiction, Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East in 2004 (Free Press), about Israeli and Palestinian societies.

The New York Times called The Collaborator of Bethlehem, the first of his Palestinian crime novels about Bethlehem sleuth Omar Yussef, "an astonishing first novel."[3] 'Le Figaro called the book "a masterpiece."[4] Rees's writing has been compared with the work of Graham Greene, John le Carré, Georges Simenon and Henning Mankell. The French magazine L'Express called him "the Dashiell Hammett of Palestine."[5] Rees's books have sold in 25 languages.

Rees was born in Newport, Wales. As a journalist, Rees covered the Middle East and lived in Jerusalem for 20 years. He was TIME's Jerusalem bureau chief from 2000 until 2006, writing award-winning stories about the Palestinian intifada. He also worked as Middle East correspondent for The Scotsman and Newsweek. He is married to the American humorist and author Devorah Blachor.

  1. ^ "2015 National Jewish Book Award Winners and Finalists". Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  2. ^ "China Strike - Crooked Lane Books". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  3. ^ The New York Times Book Review, "HMS Bounty Hunting" by Marilyn Stasio, 25 February 2007
  4. ^ Le Figaro Magazine, p.86, "Policierement Incorrect" by Jean-Louis Tremblais, 12 May 2007
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)