Published By: HQ
Pages: 480
Released On: 02/07/2026
‘We can do what no one’s ever done before. We can become gods in a game built for the devil.’
Idris Khan is no longer the man he used to be. How can he be? Murder changes people – and it has changed him. Once a respected pharmacist, Idris now walks a fine line between survival and destruction. He craves something normal in a world gone to hell – but then Zidane, his estranged brother, walks through the door. Freshly released from prison, Zidane’s presence is radioactive. Truths are laid bare. New alliances are formed. And Zidane has an offer for Idris that could blow his whole world apart: he wants them to take over the entire drug trafficking network in Leeds and Bradford, and rule together.
Now, Idris has a choice to make. Leave Leeds forever, or become the very thing he’s always feared … The Kingpin.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I LOVED the first book in this series – The Chemist – and have been looking forward to the sequel ever since.
I admit, it’s been a hot minute (I don’t know if I’ve used that in the right context but that’s what the kids told me so I’m using it) since I read The Chemist, and with the hundreds of books I read The Chemist, and with the hundreds of books I read. I can’t remember them all. So whilst I could recall the general plot, I had forgotten specifics and was worried I’d be a bit lost. But Dhand has done it well. He’s dropped little reminders to us without regurgitating the entire story. And you’re swept up immediately and any worry about not keeping up is long gone.
I really liked Idris. I’m not necessarily sure we’re meant to, he’s a bit of a grey area morally. But I can’t help it. I feel for him and I just want him to be able to go about his life without all this palaver.
I’m a 300-350 page length kind of reader, and so at almost 500 pages, that was always going to be a struggle for me. Or so I thought. I zoomed through it like it was half the length. There are slower parts and faster parts, but it never feels a slog or overwhelming, which is impressive. It could have been shorted, made some scenes a bit more concise, but there’s nothing wrong with it as it is, and somehow I still managed to read it in less than 24 hours as it was such good storytelling.
It’s complex and complicated and you can’t afford your attention to drift off. You need your wits about you to follow the different strands coming off the story. There are a lot of characters, lots of subplots, and yeah, you have to keep up because if you miss one bit then you’ll be lost.
I mean, it’s not an easy book to read topic wise. It’s harsh and vulgar and scary and raw and explicit. You have to go through a lot of that, which can be hard at times, and yet it still works. It still feels real – even if we wish these kind of things weren’t.
I loved The Chemist and I didn’t know how he’d follow it, especially as I didn’t think it 100% warranted a sequel, but now I’ve read this, it’s obvious it needed a sequel, and this is so good. I am fairly confident there will be at least a third installment. It ends well but there’s still some unanswered questions.
The plot is interesting, the storytelling masterful, the characters human and well-rounded, the peril, the fear, the thrills, the emotion – it’s all there and don’t very well. Dhand’s other books will definitely be going on my wishlist.
Books By Your Bedside 