A Deadly Divide

This is the latest in Ausma Zehanat Khan's exceptional and thought provoking crime series set in Toronto, Canada, featuring the community policing detectives, the Muslim Esa Khattak and the Jewish Rachel Getty. This addition so often reads less like fiction and more like the terrors of our real life contemporary world and is indeed inspired by actual events. When a horrifying mass shooting takes place at a mosque in the small town off Saint-Isidore-du-Lac in Quebec, Esa and Rachel are dispatched to act as community liaison and be part of the investigating community police team. The atmosphere is febrile, volatile and out of control, as Esa and Rachel find themselves in a divided community, where racism, prejudice, bigotry, right wing radio hosts and the presence of white supremacist locals add incendiary elements to the fear, panic, sorrow and grief of such a community tragedy.

The police themselves are not free of aspects of these dark and disturbing elements, threatening the integrity of the police investigation in a situation where little is as it appears. The shooter remains at large, a local Catholic priest, Etienne Roy, is found with a gun, yet is let go, whilst an Arabic speaking paramedic of an African background, Amadou Duchon, helping casualties, is arrested as a suspect. It is unsurprising that Esa should find himself under such great pressure and danger, given the nature of the conflicts laid bare in this novel. Matters escalate so much that it raises the question of his continuing role in community policing in the future. Rachel feels for Esa, whilst having to face challenges that push her to develop as a person.

Khan's latest addition is powerful and hard hitting, examining the outpouring of hate that so blights our troubled world, far beyond a small town in Canada. In this graphically realistic, complex and depressing portrayal of a mass shooting and a small town community, Khan focuses on the issues of race, religion, politics, culture, community and wider society that give rise to such horror with an acutely observant eye. This is a truly gripping read, could not be more relevant, although I admit to not being so keen on some of the romantic elements in the story. If you are looking for well written, brilliant and intelligent crime fiction with great characters, then I highly recommend this wonderful series. Many thanks to No Exit Press and Oldcastle Books for an ARC.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

Of all the Khattak and Getty novels so far I think this one is either the best one or simply my favourite, being as it is a coming together of all the themes in previous stories and a throwing at the reading audience a hugely relatable event…

A mass shooting in a community already on the brink, Ausma Zehanat Khan shines a scarily relevant spotlight onto the world in which we currently live. Using sharp insightful writing, a keen eye for character and a disturbingly realistic outlook, this will grip and educate in equal measure and leave you with a lot to think about. It will also thoroughly entertain you with its twists and turns whilst still holding truth at the heart of it.

Our dynamic duo do indeed live in interesting times…this moves their own story along and adds many layers, the outcome may not be at all what you expect, on top of that the foreshadowing for what may be to come is cleverly immersed into the narrative.

A truly excellent addition to this already excellent series.

Highly Recommended.

A highly topical, fast paced read that grips you with it's intensity. The usual great characters are here and the story is fluid. It's edge of the seat stuff.

Another topical and emotive entry in this outstanding series which uses a crime novel format to tackle head-on big contemporary political issues: here Islamaphobia, the rise of far-right white supremacist groups, and a horrific massacre in a Canadian mosque. Yet, somehow, for once the story feels plodding, and the denouement is unconvincing.

Maybe moving Rachel and Khattak from their home ground strips the story of the personal interests which have been developing across the series; maybe the story just never develops the depths and complications of previous books? Make no doubt, reading the posts of neo-Nazi trolls in the story is sickening and Khan shows her astute intelligence throughout (and note the research and further reading given at the end).

Yet, for all the good stuff, something just didn't grab me here. I'd still recommend this series highly but this book is my least favourite to date. And that carryover at the end made me groan mentally and roll my eyes...😵

this was my first encounter with Detective Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty, the situation – a small Quebecois community – grabbed me straight away.

So did the set up: the aftermath of a mass shooting in a mosque. A tough subject to deal with delicately, but author Ausma Zehanat Khan presents it with a serious-minded mix of appalled revulsion and open-minded determination. She then tackles the tricky subject of radicalisation – of young white males by fascist influences – set against the background of long term tensions between local English and French influences.

A series of ‘minor’ hate crimes have been overlooked, and hidden bitterness thrives unseen. Teenage angst and unrequited love between confused members of different sects come to light after the initial attack which left a dozen dead. Esa, an experienced Islamic community officer, is brought in the work alongside the local detectives working with his regular partner, Rachel.

Esa certainly is an unusual character – ludicrously attractive, it seems, but oblivious to romantic opportunities as he’s entangled in his own delicate domestic situation. Most of the minor characters seem determined to throw themselves at him and then spend half the book in an embarrassed or embittered sulk.

Similarly, the sparks of sexual attraction fly between Rachel and the local lead detective. You can really feel the blistering heat of mutual attraction; part antagonism, part flirting, all uncertainty. Rachel can’t trust him on any level – officers from the neighbourhood may be a part of the radical network – but she can’t avoid her physical response to him.

Some of this ardour sits a little uneasily alongside the grim subject matter. This is a complex investigation that peels back the bitterness between different segments of the local community. A charming town is revealed to be a place where casual bigotry is part of everyday life, where police officers spout casual anti-Semitism but where the local hate-pedalling shock-jock turns out to be surprisingly sensitive in private. Just as it must be in real life, the cross-cultural situation is horribly convoluted.

The author has a deft ability to give her characters vivid, credible emotional responses. A genuine sense of spirituality balances the graphic reality of mass murder. The encounter between Esa and the town’s Catholic priest where, after a shaky start they share a meeting of conscience, is genuinely touching.

Yet there may be too much going on in this book for its own good. At times the story seemed subservient to the politics, the plot buried beneath a metric tonne of good intentions. One of the most intriguing aspects of the entire novel – the stalker in the shadows with Esa in his/her sights – wasn’t resolved at all, but simply left dangling.

I certainly enjoyed seeing things from the perspective of a Muslim investigator, but felt that the policing and detection aspects of the story were pretty flimsy. For experienced officers, Esa and Rachel sure know how to do exactly the wrong thing in any risky situation. And the cliché of ‘political pressure from above’ alienated me.

So while I enjoyed many aspects of A Deadly Divide, there were several segments where I was thinking ‘just get on with it.’ And the lack of resolution to the intriguing subplot really irritated me. I wasn’t convinced to go back and read the earlier books in the series.

7/10

I am new to Ausma Zehanat Khan’s Toronto based series but I have heard so many good things about these books that I was eager to read the latest paperback, A Deadly Divide.

The series features two community policing detectives, Muslim Esa Khattak and Jewish Rachel Getty. Their respective faiths are critical in these books which deal with racial tensions in contemporary society in Canada and as Khan makes clear, this fictional story is indeed based on real life events.

We are in Quebec where a terrible shooting has occurred in a mosque in the small community of Saint-Isidore-du-Lac. Esa and Rachel, who form a close knit partnership, are sent to be community liaison officers as part of the police team investigating this awful shooting.

Tensions are running very high and it is clear from the outset that this community has a festering sore that has been leaking bile for some time into this Quebecois community. Beneath the surface of this lovely town, is both everyday racism and bigotry, fuelled by outright hatred, anti-semitism, anti-Muslim sentiment, right wing nationalism and white supremacy.

This is a recognisable and all too toxic combination, which we feel the more strongly because it happens in a relatively small town which is now grieving even as its citizens look for answers.

Khattak and Getty immediately find themselves at odds with the local police. The local priest, Etienne Roy, is discovered on the scene with a gun, yet the police treat him with kid gloves, whilst an Arabic speaking African, Amadou Duchon, who is on site helping casualties is immediately arrested and roughly handcuffed as a suspect.

The police it seems are already taking sides, skewing the investigation before the evidence has even been established.

Khan’s novel feels horribly relevant in today’s polarised world where Islamaphobia is taking hold and people are genuinely scared of what atrocities will happen next.

Khan’s writing is crisp, intelligent and clear and her insights are disturbing and very thought provoking. As the investigation begins, we find Esa and Rachel struggling to comprehend why the police investigation is proceeding in the way that it is, and Esa himself, in the midst of personal turmoil and self-reflection, finds himself despairing as he questions his future in the face of such depressing attitudes.

Ausma Zehanat Khan’s book looks at the impact of radicalisation and the rise of fascism through the lens of this atrocity and what she presents is a complex picture of how allowing seemingly small crimes to fester can lead to an explosion of hate and bitterness.

She draws her characters well, and the complexity of the issues is addressed very well; the political and emotional responses to the shooting are all too credible. Esa and Rachel have to tread a delicate balance between fear in the Muslim community and the genuine concerns of the community which are being fuelled by rampant racism.

Intertwined with this investigation is a sub plot which places Esa dead centre in the middle of a love triangle and a seriously creepy scenario in which we fear for his life and his sanity.

Rachel, meanwhile, is torn between being drawn to the leader of the local police investigation and questioning his every move.

I was caught up in this tense and intriguing storyline, though left somewhat deflated by the lack of resolution to the sub-plot which I guess is a running story which will be explored further in subsequent books.

Verdict: A convincing exploration of the cross cultural divide with all the attendant prejudices and misconceptions that racial, religious and cultural differences can lead to in this intense explosion of crime and racial prejudice. I loved the complex political manoeuvring and the character exposition which shows just how complicated an investigation of this kind can become. I’m less sure about the romantic entanglements, though this undoubtedly helps to make these characters more fallible.