Despite their many differences, Detective Rachel Getty trusts her boss, Essa Khattak, unconditionally. But she still feels uncomfortable with Hattack’s stingy secrecy when he asks her to look into Christopher Drayton’s death. Drayton’s apparently accidental fall off a cliff doesn’t seem to warrant a police investigation, especially not by Rachel and Hattack’s team of sensitive minority cases. But when she learns that Drayton may have been living under an assumed name, Rachel begins to understand why Khattak is tiptoeing into the case. It soon becomes clear that Drayton may have been a war criminal connected to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

If true, any number of people could have helped Drayton die, and the murder investigation could have sent far-reaching ripples through society. But as Rachel and Khattak delve deeper into the life and death of Christopher Drayton, it seems that every question only leads to more questions, with no easy answers. In the end, did the ghosts of Srebrenica come back to haunt Drayton, or did he keep secrets of a completely different nature? Or, in the end, did the man simply fall to his death from the Bluffs?

In her gripping debut, Ausma Zehanat Khan has written a complex and provocative story of loss, redemption, and the price of justice that will stay in readers’ minds long after they turn the last page.

The main characters are

Esa Khattak
The protagonist of the novel, Esa, is the lead detective in the investigation of Christopher Drayton’s death. As a second-generation Canadian Muslim, his boss, Tom Paley, believes that he is well suited to investigate the crime. Eza has a complicated relationship with his longtime friend Nate and Mink Norman, who works at the museum, but his professionalism and strong relationship with Getty allow him to investigate thoroughly.

Rachel Getty
Determined and inquisitive detective Rachel is Ezra’s partner and works with him in the investigation of Christopher Drayton’s death. Despite their honest relationship, Getty struggles with Hattack’s evasiveness about his personal relationships with Nathan Clare and Mink Norman. Rachel’s father is the infamous former police chief Don Getty, with whom she has a tense and complicated relationship.

Nathan Clare
The famous writer Nathan (Nate) is an estranged college friend of Ezra’s and lives in the same neighborhood as Christopher Drayton. His connection to Ringsong allows Hattack and Getty to infiltrate the community to learn the truth about Drayton’s death.

Christopher Drayton
The investigation into the death of Christopher Drayton, the alias of war criminal Dražen Krstić, forms the basis of the novel. Hattack and Getty discover that Drayton was a war criminal linked to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, a crime that remains painful for the Bosnian community.

Melanie Blessant
Melanie Blessant is the fiancée of Christopher Drayton and the mother of two daughters, Hadley and Cassidy. She is an eccentric and passionate woman who, according to the detectives, has an ulterior motive for wanting to marry Drayton. She is the source of many problems in the investigation because of her demand for Drayton’s will and her poor care of her two daughters.

Mink Norman
Mink is a librarian at Ringsong who also lives on the grounds and dedicates her life to studying Andalusian culture and history. She gains the respect and adoration of Inspector Hattack, which causes tension between the detectives and within the investigation. Towards the end of the novel, we learn that Mink is also part of the Bosnian community and is connected to other people who suffered from the Srebrenica massacre.

The post The Restless Dead by Ausma Zhanar Khan appeared first on Mid-Taw Fikha.

Amina is a young Pakistani-American girl who grew up outside of Milwaukee with her loving mother, father, and older brother Mustafa. She has a beautiful singing voice and is a gifted pianist. However, Amina is afraid of public speaking and hates being the center of attention. Only her closest family and friends know how talented she is.

Amina’s best friend is Sujin, a Korean-American woman. Sujin is excited about her upcoming citizenship ceremony. She tells Amina that she is going to change her name to something more “American.” Amina worries that by giving up her name, Sujin will be giving up an important part of herself. She also wonders if this means that Sujin is changing and therefore their friendship. To make matters worse, Sujin befriends Emily, a girl who, along with other classmates, teases Amina and Sujin about their different foods and cultures. Amina is sure she will never be able to forgive Emily and befriend her, but Sujin keeps inviting her to join them.

Amina’s brother, Mustafa, has trouble avoiding trouble, and their parents put a lot of pressure on him to do well in school. Their mosque will be holding a Quran recitation contest with a scholarship awarded to the winner, and Amina’s parents expect the children to participate, which scares her. To top it off, their very conservative uncle, Taya Jaan, is coming for a visit from Pakistan. Her parents ask him to help the children prepare for the competition. One day, Amina hears Taya Jaan complaining to her father that she is playing too much music, saying it is “haram” or forbidden. The issue is debated in Islam and Amina’s parents disagree, but she doesn’t hear her father say anything to challenge her older brother. Amina remains confused and anxious.

The confusion leads Emily to believe that Amina has betrayed her trust. Sujin is horrified that her best friend might do something hurtful. Amina feels terrible and realizes that Emily was just trying to be friends after all. Feeling upset and embarrassed, Amina confesses to her mother what she heard Taya Jaan say. Her mother is adamant that her musical talents are a gift and she should continue to play and sing. She also tells Amina that her misunderstanding with Emily can be resolved through sympathetic communication. The conversations Amina has with her mother help her see things more clearly and find peace.

Unfortunately, this peace is interrupted when Amina’s mosque is horribly vandalized in a hate crime. The building is burned down and everything beautiful and sacred inside is torn and destroyed. Her family and the Muslim community are devastated by this loss. In a beautiful show of support, all members of the community come together, including the school, churches and synagogues, to support them and help rebuild. It is a powerful demonstration of solidarity.

To cheer themselves up, the parents encourage Amina to play the piano for those gathered in their home. This brings everyone great comfort in their grief, and Amina is pleasantly surprised to see that even Taya Jaan appreciates it and seems to have changed her mind. After reconciling with Sujin and Emily, Amina is surprised again when Emily’s father offers to donate his contract skills to help with the rebuilding. Sujin’s church holds a fundraiser for the mosque and also takes part in a Quran recitation contest, which, to everyone’s surprise, Mustafa wins!

With renewed confidence after her success at the Quran recitation competition, Amina decides to perform a solo at the school concert, which she had previously turned down. Her music teacher is thrilled, and when Amina takes the stage, she stuns the audience with a heartfelt and moving rendition of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”, “believing the lyrics with all her might”.

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In the Military Empire, disobedience is met with death. Those who do not pledge their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk having their loved ones executed and everything they hold dear destroyed.

It is in this cruel world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laya lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family lives in the poor streets of the Empire. They do not challenge the Empire. They have seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laya’s brother is arrested for treason, Laya is forced to make a decision. In exchange for the help of the rebels who promise to save her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from the Empire’s largest military academy.

There, Laya meets Elias, the best soldier in the school-and secretly the most reluctant. Elias only wants to be free from the tyranny he is trained to enforce. Soon he and Laya realize that their fates are intertwined-and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

The first book in this bestselling series (which includes Torch Against the Night, Reaper at the Gate, and The Sky Beyond the Storm) follows rebel Laya as she secretly becomes a slave at a renowned military academy to rescue her captive older brother, only to join forces with Elias, a reluctant elite soldier who wants to escape a life of violence.

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