Although this book is called a
mystery, it is so much more than that. This
is a book that everyone should read. It
is a testament to why evil must not be allowed to exist and why no one, nations
included, should be allowed to stand by and do nothing and let something like
the Bosnian Muslim massacres happen again.
This is a difficult novel to read in that each chapter begins with a
quote, a quote that is referenced in the Notes section as being parts of the
actual testimony of survivors of the massacres.
These are real people who lived through unimaginable horrors; mothers
looking for lost children, husbands searching for wives, and everyone looking
for someone who was brutally murdered for no other reason than their
religion. It is a story that grapples
with the question of how people who were once neighbors turned upon children,
boys, mothers, and fathers. It is,
however, also a story of hope and the conviction that justice, not revenge,
must prevail.
The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan is the first book in a
series. The novel is set in Canada and
has two main detectives. Esa Khattak is
a second-generation Canadian Muslim and Rachel Getty, a somewhat awkward woman,
who nevertheless is invaluable to Khattak as she has a passion for the truth,
no matter how painful that truth may be.
Khattak has been given charge of the new Community Policing Section, a department
formed to deal with sensitive issues involving minorities, including
refugees. Khattak and Getty are puzzled
when they are called to investigate the death of Christopher Drayton. Drayton fell from the cliffs and it is first assumed
to be an accident. Evidence soon comes
to light that seem to point to Drayton in actuality being Lt. Colonel Dražen
Kristić, a man who was directly involved in the planning and execution of over
8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. Khattak
and Getty must probe the painful memories of survivors to see if the traumatic
events did have a bearing on the death or if a more current issue drove someone
to push Drayton over the cliffs.
Series in order:
Series in order:
Note: A Death in Sarajevo is a novella and is available in eBook format only at this time.
For more information about the author and her books, please visit
Ausma Zehanat Khan's website.
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