A. A. Dhand

I have read all of A A Dhand's D. I. Harry Virdee series, set in my hometown of Bradford, and enjoyed both the characters and the well-paced plots, until the local and family-based tensions started morphing into Hollywood action thrillers. Dhand's first standalone novel merely transfers the drama to Delhi and the dialogue and storyline to Bollywood.

The opening chapters, introducing the new characters of Jack Baxi and Aisha Iqbal in an explosive setting but still based in the author's home turf of Bradford, are gripping and instantly addictive. A dodgy detective, Kuldeep Singh, forces his way into Jack Baxi's corner shop on the equally notorious 'Elmswood' estate, demanding to know about Jack's connection with a mysterious man named Benedict Cave. When Jack denies all knowledge, Singh calls in two dark-coated heavies - and a young girl, gagged and bound, who has clearly suffered the same inquisition (and Aisha's description of her fake arrest and abduction by Singh is a disturbing reminder of Sara Everard's murder). Soon Jack and the girl are fighting for their lives in a burning building, without understanding what they have in common or why the detective wants them dead.

The answer, which quickly finds the unlikely duo on 5,000 miles away on the mean and crowded streets of Delhi, involves family secrets, a 'global network of shadows', the partition of India in 1947 - and an enduring, dangerous grudge spanning continents and generations. I must admit that I struggled to suspend my disbelief with every additional twist and turn of the story, including fake deaths, secret children and sex trafficking. The relentless pace and superficiality of the dialogue made this novel feel more like the script for an action-adventure film than the homegrown cultural differences and subtle characterisation of Dhand's previous books. Cruise, the Delhi taxi driver and Hollywood junkie who gets drawn into Jack and Aisha's quest for the truth, even observes at one point: 'It is being like one crazy movie'. (His cod Indian accent, which reminded me of the racist stereotyping of the character played by Fisher Stevens in Short Circuit, didn't help either!)

The heavy-handed theme of kismet - 'the Indian word for fate', which probably doesn't need explaining - is also belaboured throughout by various characters. I found the religious and historical background to the story very interesting, but there is nothing mystical about the plot, despite throwing in Catholic exorcisms and Indian witch doctors! The story is more soap opera than cultural commentary, playing on 'shocking' revelations and sacrifices which unfortunately don't add any much-needed depth to the characters. Jack is the standard cynical ex-con with no family to give his life meaning, whereas Aisha is a caricature of modern femininity, fighting against her culture and petite stature to live independently and do the right thing.

The action moves at a clip, and the short, punchy chapters make for a swift, exciting read, but I still found myself missing Harry Virdee and the familiar landmarks of Bradford. Perhaps, like the eager and excitable Cruise, the film rights for this novel will soon be optioned for Hollywood!… (altro)

After being tortured and left for dead Jack Baxi knows he needs to find answers. He hasn't led a good life, been to prison and earning money illegally he has left behind his devout Sikh past and settled into anonymity in Bradford but now all that has changed. His supposedly dead wife has resurfaced in Delhi, his ex-business partner's daughter is involved and Jack is being hunted by an unknown organisation with a long reach.
I really liked Dhand's first set of police procedurals based in Bradford, he really understands the tension between the communities and the drivers of law and crime in the city. This is a stand alone book and it doesn't work quite as well. Dhand is still excellent when describing communities and the interplay between religions but the action is more Bollywood meets Bourne than necessarily needed. The plot line around the Amritsar Massacre and the atrocities of the Partition is really interesting though.… (altro)

'A final message for Bradford. There is a resolve among Bradfordians not to allow division, hate and racism to prosper, irrespective of faith. Our time to unite as a city has arrived and, as ever, we will not go down without a fight. Let us show the world, once and for all, that this is truly God's own country.'

Book four in the Harry Virdee series opens with a bang, which will definitely grab the attention of local readers - Bradford's Mirror Pool and part of City Hall are blown to pieces after a warning televised on the big screen in Centenary Square - but unfortunately there was too much Hollywood flash about A A Dhand's latest 'seismic plot' to similarly capture my imagination.

The cast, location and subplots are the same - Detective Virdee and his Muslim wife Saima, their little boy Aaron, and the complicated relationship with Harry's parents, played out in familiar locations such as the Bradford Club in the city centre, Bradford City Football Club and the ever ominous Queensbury Tunnel - but the powerful realism of clashing cultures and 'brown on brown' racism between local communities seems to have been given a steroid injection and turned into the plot of an action film. From the explosive introduction to 'Dirty Harry's increasingly violent methods of law enforcement - one particular suspect is put in the hot seat with a nasty dose of chilli powder - every chapter ramps up the tension while leaving credibility far behind. 'Sounds like a speech from one of those crappy nineties movies,' one of the characters quips at one point, and that goes for the plot too, which reads like a terrorist version of Speed - a group of far right terrorists, the Patriots, claim to have planted another bomb in a mosque somewhere in the city and will blow up over a thousand Muslim worshippers unless the four members of an extremist sect, Almukhtaroon, give themselves up - and also if a single person tries to leave any one of the mosques.

Saima, once again caught up in the action, helps to balance the high drama with her usual blend of level-headed intelligence and grace under pressure, and the subplot of Harry's parents looking after little Aaron is perhaps the most affecting of all. When Harry chose to marry a Muslim woman, his father Ranjit, a devout Sikh, disowned him and also forbade his mother to have any contact with Harry, Saima and even their grandson. Having to take care of Aaron overnight, however, forces a childhood memory to the surface which sets Ranjit's heart against his faith. I really felt for Ranjit and Joyti, and their very human fears and failings made a welcome change from Harry the superhero.

Fast-paced and full of action as ever, but Harry Virdee is quickly losing touch with his Bradford roots. 'You don't need to be the saviour of this city any more,' Saima warns; 'Gotham can find another Dark Knight'. Here's hoping book five will bring Harry back to reality.… (altro)

City of Sinners – A little too close to home

AA Dhand once again uses his knowledge of Bradford, racism to take the reader on a tour de force of a thriller. As an author Dhand has the wonderful ability of being able to draw in the reader, and in what seems five minutes you are one hundred pages in and cannot book the down. As someone that lives on the correct side of the Pennines, he actually makes Bradford, on the wrong side of the Pennines sound interesting.

Harry Virdee is called out to a case in the middle of Bradford, when he arrives, he asks his inspector what the call is about. Entering the bookshop dangling from the roof is a dead woman, it could be suicide he thinks, when he gets closer things take a turn. He notices there has been a struggle and that the victim besides being Asian has been hung with barbed wire.

It is during the autopsy that things take a turn for the weird, as they eyelids are moving while on the table, and they all know she is dead. When then unpick and open the eyelids a wasp flies out of each eye socket, where the eyes once were. These wasps were definitely not the common sort of wasp that is seen in Britain. When a message is also pulled out of the window socket addressed to Harry, he has no idea what he is about to embark on.

As another dead body turns up, it appears that Harry is being taunted by the murderer, who is accusing him of knowing the reason why the murders are happening. Pity Harry cannot see it just yet, but when it comes closer to home, he starts to ask the right questions, but then he may need to go beyond the law.

Once again AA Dhand has crafted a brilliant thriller which leaves you questioning all the time. It also shows that every family in every community, no matter the heritage can be dysfunctional. He tackles issues that where others fear to tread and does it brilliantly.

An excellent thriller and Harry Virdee as a character continues to develop and I cannot wait for his next outing.… (altro)