Published By: Harvill Secker
Pages: 400
Released On: 13/04/2023
HAS SOMEONE GOT AWAY WITH MURDER?
On the verge of a four-billion-dollar deal, a tech entrepreneur from Shoreditch is found dead in a construction site, which leads to the discovery of three skeletons over a hundred years old.
But as fresh bodies turn up, can Detective Kamil – along with his friend Anjoli – prevent another murder?
Desperate to solve his first case for the Met, will Kamil put his reputation on the line… then cross it?
*****
Thanks to Harvill Secker for the gifted proof of this title in return for an honest review and spot on the book tour.
This is the third in the Kamil Rahman Mystery series, but like any good series, it works very well as a standalone novel. I haven’t read any of the previous two, and I’m sure you may appreciate the little things more if you have read them, but I didn’t find it affected the reading of this one at all.
As a white Englishwoman, it is not always obvious to me how important multicultural characters in fiction can be, but I can completely appreciate Ajay’s portrayal of multicultural London. But you don’t feel as if you’re reading characters who are Indian or Israelian for example, in the same way that I don’t read characters as English or French, say. They’re just fabulously written characters who just shine off the page, but I can appreciate how important seeing multicultural protagonists, especially to younger readers, is.
There is this naturalness between our main character of Kamil and his colleague Tahir that I loved. It was a professional relationship built on friendship and that was an interesting route to take. I also liked the addition of the dynamic between Jamil and his flatmate Anjoli. She was a great addition to the cast and I really enjoyed reading about her and their relationship.
My one issue, slightly, is there’s a little too much freedom with what can be done or shared. I’m not 100% sure as I’m not a police officer, but my assumption is if you’re a police officer on a murder case, you can’t just be telling non-officers what’s going on and let them in to pathologist laboratories. Maybe this is something that has been built on from the other books, and maybe it’s not a huge issue, but it was just this little niggle I had whilst reading it. But the rest of it felt so real it could have been lifted straight from the East End. In fact, halfway through reading it I noticed police cars driving past and my instinct was to think they were driving to this imaginary crime scene.
It is quite involved with many characters and subplots. In the hands of a less experienced author this could have made it convoluted and confusing. But Ajay has managed to balance it all so perfectly that it reads seamlessly.
It is full of twists and turns and red herrings, with multiple suspects. If you’re anything like me, I had no cluse who it could have been. I’ve read a lot of whodunnits recently and you’d think I’d be getting better at spotting all the clues, but I’m not. This is real edge of your seat stuff, waiting for the next target.
Now I obviously won’t go into too much detail for fear of spoiling it, but there is a very heavy AI presence in this story, and the worrying thing is, this world is beginning to reflect this, and there is this concern that we’re relying on AI too heavily considering we don’t always know how to fully control it. Yes we may use it for good, but what is to stop those using it for evil? This is something I am more than happy to leave in the pages of a book.
I read it in less than 24 hours. It was fantastic and I can’t wait for the next one – at least I hope there’s a next one.
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