Loved this one. I read it in two days, forsaking all other chores, I just had to know what happened. We get to hear about the history of Bartimaeus and why Ptolemy was so important to him. Again the time setting is super vague. There are cars but very little other mention of anything that might date the story. Good idea since it will extend the shelf-life considerably! It goes between London "now" and Alexandria ~200 bc. The point of view changes too. Exciting twists and unexpected outcomes abound. Even the predictable ended up being not quite what I expected. Guffaws on occasion. Bartimaeus is a really funny djinni.