Title: The Party Worker
Author: Omar Shahid Hamid
Publisher: Pan Macmillan India
Review:
Pakistani police officer-cum-novelist Omar Shahid Hamid
delivers yet another gritty account of politics and its associated evils. ‘The
Party Worker’ as such focuses on corruption and duplicity along with some sordid
but keen insights into winning and maintaining power in the big bad world of
politics.
It all begins with the murder of a Jewish woman on the steps
of the Natural History Museum in New York. A committed NYPD detective picks up
the case with the intention of solving it. He sets his eyes on a self-exiled
Pakistani politician by the name of Mohammad Ali Pichkari. Disparate lives are
thrown together for the purpose of bringing about the downfall of this man who,
as it turns out, is the uncrowned king of Karachi. A burnt out New York cop; an
octogenarian Parsi businessman sitting in a decaying Karachi mansion; an
unconscionable hatchet-man whose days are numbered; a journalist who
dreams of the big time — who brings about the downfall of Pichkari and how,
forms the crux of this maelstrom of a novel.
The writing is easy to follow. Hamid’s
characterizations call for rounds of applauds. His are not two-dimensional
figures devoid of nuance; rather these are believable characters and seem to be
drawn closely from real-life people. The pace is wonderfully set and is sure to
keep readers glued to the pages.
An astutely written and well-crafted work. Just the thing
for politics junkies and journalism buffs.
About the Author:
Omar Shahid Hamid has been a police officer in Pakistan for
sixteen years and is a senior member of the Karachi Police's Counter Terrorism
Department. In 2011, following an attack on his offices by the Pakistani
Taliban, he took a five-year sabbatical to write books and worked as a
political risk consultant. He has been widely quoted and regularly featured in
major news outlets like The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal,
The Times, Le Monde, DW, Bloomberg, Reuters, CNN, BBC, France24, Radio France
and NPR. His first novel, The Prisoner (2013), was long listed for the DSC
Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 and is now being adapted for a feature
film. His second novel is The Spinner’s Tale (2015). In 2016, Omar returned to
active duty as a Counter Terrorism Officer.
Buy Link:
I'd like to thank the author for letting me review his novel. I do hope you end up liking the book when you read it. Thank you so much for stopping by, and happy reading!
* I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
** Picture courtesy: Amazon.in
No comments:
Post a Comment