What We Thought:
AA Dhand is one of a trio of brilliant new British Asian crime writers (the others being Vasim Khan and Abir Mukherjee) who rose to prominence around the same time, each writing a radically different style of crime novel. Of these, Dhand is the only one to set his novels in contemporary Britain.
All good noir needs a dark location as a background, and Dhand gives us Bradford – once a wealthy wool town in the north of England, now riven with unemployment, drugs and racial conflict.
“Bradford had become the cesspit of Yorkshire ... Dereliction was the norm here. Huge Victorian buildings from the industrial era were covered in black soot. They stood abandoned and ashamed.”
It’s Eid, and a huge Mela is planned to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Then Virdee finds the murdered body of the man who has just won a by-election and become the city’s first Muslim MP. The scene is set for the city to go up in flames, just like in the 2004 riots. But could that all be a distraction – and if so, what is it designed to hide?
Dhand has said that (Bradford Review 11/07/2016) that he was striving for a hero that broke the stereotypes of Asian males. Harry Virdee certainly does that. Out on the streets, he is reminiscent of Luther – dangerous, violent, unpredictable. But unlike Luther, he’s not a loner. His tender relationship with is heavily pregnant wife, Saima – the strength they draw from one another, the search for the perfect name as Virdee vetoes one after another of Saima’s suggestions – is one of the joys of the book and a counterpoint to the bleakness of the world outside.
Dhand stares down the lens at some of the toughest problems facing our cities - organised crime, drugs, prostitution, racism in the streets and in politics. And he doesn’t flinch from addressing problems that come from within Bradford’s British Asian community as well as without.
A powerful new voice in British crime fiction. His second book in the series, Girl Zero, is already out and addresses even more controversial issues. I look forward to reading it.
You’ll Enjoy This If You Love: Dreda Say Mitchell, Leye Adenle, Ian Rankin, Val McDiarmid, Jacob Ross
Avoid If You Dislike: the brutal end of the Crime Fiction spectrum
Perfect Accompaniment: Vegetable thali
Genre: Crime
Available on Amazon
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