The Khan by Saima Mir
I would like to thank Anna from Random Things Tours and Point Blank for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Point Blank
Published – Out Now
Price – £11.99 paperback £6.99 Kindle eBook
Be twice as good as men and four times as good as white men.
Jia Khan has always lived like this.
Successful London lawyer Jia Khan is a long way from the grubby Northern streets she knew as a child, where her father, Akbar Khan, led the Pakistani community and ran the local organised crime syndicate. Often his Jirga rule – the old way – was violent and bloody, but it was always justice of a kind.
Now, with her father murdered, Jia must return to take his place. The police have always relied on the Khan to maintain the fragile order of the streets. But a bloody power struggle has broken out among warring communities and nobody is safe.
Justice needs to be restored, and Jia is about to discover that justice always comes at a cost.
Whenever an actor plays a villain, you’ll hear their approach is to make them the hero of the story, but they never really explain how that viewpoint is developed. Crime gangs have a long history of self-justification for their actions, poverty, corrupt government, and racism all do have factors in how groups from the Mafia to even those Peaky Blinders developed. In The Khan by Saima Mir we explore an Asian crime syndicate based in the UK and one woman who becomes it’s leader. It is a fascinating, well researched and with the lead character often troubling how much they’re beginning to enjoy their new found power.
In Bradford Akbar Khan is a man well known and feared. As The Khan the leader of a powerful group known as the Jirga he controls drugs and prostitution and many other crime rings across the UK as part of a group known as the Jirga. He balances his daily decisions on violence and death with his Muslim faith a a belief that he also does good for the community. Refugee centres, charities and many more have benefited from his help. Even the police have him as someone they can use when certain rogue elements try to tear the city apart. Yet the twenty first century is here and rival gangs from Eastern Europe now appear on the turf with a less old school approach to taking charge. Jia Khan is a highly successful driven barrister separated from her family and trying to be seen as a respectable member of society – a seat as a Judge is calling to her. A simple wedding invitation from her sister sets in motion a trail of events leading to Akbar’s death, a gang war on the streets of Bradford and the smart, angry and cool-blooded Jia at the right place at the wrong time to guide the Jirga to a new direction but her own past decisions are about to also come back to haunt her in the form of a ex-husband and troubled son.
This becomes an epic crim novel exploring events from Afghanistan to across the UK. Is suspect like many UK readers I will not be aware of the culture and events that lead to these type of crime gangs and Mire really makes us see the city and cultures this group was made from. It feels well researched from scenes of a racist UK police force, urban unemployment and youth dissatisfaction as well as a country that never seems to embrace those born in the UK as truly British. Is it really that surprising that some feel if a community is not to be protected by it’s police and government that other groups will take their place or use the opportunity to profit for themselves. I really liked the exploration of old school crime versus new wave crime – the power of cybercrime starts to be seen as a new lucrative ‘clean’ way of making money in contrast to the more violent street battles and murders we see also take place. It’s a novel that brings depth and understanding that really immerses the reader into this world.
At the heart though is Jia Khan herself and she is a fascinating unsympathetic character that Mir succeeds in making us understand if not necessarily like. Jia comes from a rich well-respected family that treads the border of being a devout muslim family and yet one with the riches and freedoms (and temptations) of UK society. Jia is allowed to make her own career and find her own love but this family has a way of pulling you back in. The question we are posed is Jia an innocent woman sprung into a situation of grief and desire for revenge or was she always the perfect candidate to take charge (one she always wanted perhaps?). Mir makes this ambiguous we see Akbar really controlling and when he feels ready take charge of events in Jia’s life that make us both care and detest him. The same feeling that we see when Jia takes the fight to her East European rival. Trying to work out what Jia wants is the central emotional heart of the tale. Watching her controlled approach to manipulating other gang leaders to allow her to take charge shows the barrister mind at work thinking strategically and using her words and sometimes playing to their own sexism in order for her own plans to take fruit.
The scope of the tale is possibly a little too ambitious. In a few pages the action moves on twelve months and we see Jia’s take on what the Jirga should be. Smart, modern and just as ruthless when required. I wished the story just allowed a little more time for us to explore the new dynamic of Jia taking charge to a crime empire which made me feel there was enough here for another novel at the very least (certainly hope so). The human consequences of what Jia does with prostitution and drugs isn’t for me greatly explored in this tale. Jia can make herself the heroine of her own tale and yes there is good reason to see how this approach developed but an awful lot of people still get used and hurt by her proceeds which she sits in charge of. Like those other crime groups, a lot of people are enjoying being rich on suffering and deaths. How evil is balanced with a faith and divine judgement is a question the story examines without ever coming down on either side too hard which I think works for the initial story for now.
This is a very promising debut thriller. A fascinating culture and lead character pull the reader in and like that other successful crime boss tale I won’t mention you cannot leave until the final page at least. I hope we get to explore more of Jia Khan and what makes her tick in the future. One to watch!
