The Prisoner

January 26, 2015
For his sobering debut thriller, Hamid draws on his own experiences as a police officer to plunge the reader headfirst into the murky world of Pakistani politics and justice. Constantine D’Souza, a relatively honest Karachi police officer, finds himself seeking the help of Akbar Khan, an estranged comrade and fellow crusader against imprisoned criminals enjoying political protection, in order to try to rescue Jon Friedland, a kidnapped American journalist. The U.S. is leaning on the Pakistani president for quick action, and the president, in turn, is leaning on military agencies. As D’Souza tries to make sense of the present mess, he thinks back to the events of the past decade, including the late-night police raids and extrajudicial killings that the police resorted to in hopes of reigning in the goons sponsored by the ruling coalitions. Hamid does a good job making D’Souza and his fellow officers sympathetic. One only wishes that the women in the story were more well-rounded.

February 15, 2015
First-novelist Hamid begins his debut with the kidnapping of an American journalist in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. Karachi police and intelligence agents search frantically, but their best hope may be Akbar Khan, a celebrated cop who languishes in the city's teeming Central Prison. Hamid's narrator is Constantine D'Souza, a Christian police officer who eschews the corruption that is baked into the police culture. D'Souza has just taken over administration of the Central Prison, and his best friend is Khan. But Hamid has an agenda here that goes beyond the boundaries of a fictional thriller: he also wants to portray the decade of violence and turmoil he experienced as a real-life Karachi police officer. He details conflict between Sunni and Shiite, volatile jihadists, remarkable levels of corruption, backroom deals, and the rise of a violent political party that takes control of the entire city. Hamid also fills his tale with colorful Pakistani cop language that makes the appended glossary a pleasure and a necessity. Recommended reading for all fans of international crime fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)