July 2

One Way Out – A. A. Dhand

A bomb detonates in Bradford’s City Park.

When the alert sounds, DCI Harry Virdee has just enough time to get his son and his mother to safety before the bomb blows. But this is merely a stunt.

The worst is yet to come.

A new and aggressive nationalist group, the Patriots, have hidden a second device under one of the city’s mosques. In exchange for the safe release of those at Friday prayers, the Patriots want custody of the leaders of radical Islamist group Almukhtaroon – the chosen ones.

The government does not negotiate with terrorists. Even when thousands of lives are at risk.

There is only one way out.

But Harry’s wife is in one of those mosques. Left with no choice, Harry must find the Almukhtaroon, to offer the Patriots his own deal.

Because sometimes the only way to save lives, is to take them.

 

I received a review copy from the publisher. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the chance to host this leg of the One Way Out Blog Tour.

 

Book four in the Harry Virdee series and the stakes are raised to the highest level.

Bradford is under attack, a devastating bomb blast causes carnage in a city park. Harry, his mother and his young son managed to flee the park and get to safety just moments before the explosion. Had it not been for the warning delivered by the terrorists this may have been a very short Harry Virdee story!

Once he ensured his mother and son would be safe Harry is immediately drawn back into the action. However not all his family are safe as Harry’s wife is trapped inside one of the city mosques. The terrorists have placed bombs inside a mosque but won’t reveal which one – if any of the visitors to any of the city mosques try to leave then the mosque with the bomb will be destroyed – hundreds will die.

The dilemma for the authorities is straightforward…turn over the leaders of a radical Islamist group to a Nationalist group or face the consequences of the mosque being destroyed. Four lives for a thousand. With the world watching who can make that decision?

It would be crass to use the phrase “blown away” when discussing One Way Out, however, this book delivers high drama and is a gripping read. I have raced through One Way Out over the last couple of days.

Harry’s family relationships have caused him significant conflict over the first three books. Matters take interesting turns in book four. This is great for returning readers and new readers will understand what is happening – but having books 1-3 under your belt will mean you get more punch from certain scenes.

As ever A. A. Dhand puts his characters through the wringer. Harry will rush in and place himself in danger as he battles to save his wife and the city he loves. The action comes thick and fast and the ticking clock which counts down on the fate of the trapped worshippers in the mosques means I kept reading to see how the predicaments could be resolved.

The Harry Virdee books should be on your reading wishlists. A. A. Dhand is not just putting Bradford on the crime fiction map, he is ripping up your old maps and crafting new landscapes with Bradford at the heart of everything. Don’t miss this one.

 

One Way Out is published by Bantam Press and is available in Hardback and digital format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PLNK6KY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

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June 13

Streets of Darkness – A. A. Dhand

Streets of DarknessThe sky over Bradford is heavy with foreboding. It always is. But this morning it has reason to be – this morning a body has been found. And it’s not just any body.

Detective Harry Virdee should be at home with his wife. Impending fatherhood should be all he can think about but he’s been suspended from work just as the biggest case of the year lands on what would have been his desk. He can’t keep himself away.

Determined to restore his reputation, Harry is obliged to take to the shadows in search of notorious ex-convict and prime suspect, Lucas Dwight. But as the motivations of the murder threaten to tip an already unstable city into riotous anarchy, Harry finds his preconceptions turned on their head as he discovers what it’s like to be on the other side of the law…

 

My thanks to Ben at Transworld for my review copy.

Detective Harry Virdee is an angry man.  His temper has landed him a suspension from the police and his timing is terrible as one of the most important cases that he could ever have handled is being taken away from him.

A prominent politician has been murdered, all the evidence points towards it being a racially motivated attack by the BNP and Bradford, a city with a history of racial tensions, becomes a powder-keg of tension.  The police are keen to keep events under wraps but someone has other ideas – there are factions scrabbling for supremacy of the criminal underworld and they will use any means possible to exploit weakness and cause chaos.

Harry Virdee is given free run by his boss to do whatever it takes to track down and capture the prime suspect in the murder (Lucas Dwight).  But Lucas and Harry have a history and bringing in his former nemesis is not going to be easy.

Streets of Darkness is a stunning debut. A A Dhand lights the blue touch-paper from the first chapter and the action seems relentless. There are so many strong and memorable characters in this story, all vying for attention, all destined to clash at some point and the city of Bradford is their arena. This is the story you will start and not want to put down.

As the star of the show Harry Virdee is a strong lead character, seemingly haunted and driven by an incident in his past (see the anger issues).  His wife, Saima, is heavily pregnant and Harry is determined not to cause her undue worry…this is going to be tricky.  Saima is equally determined as her husband and she was a brilliant contrast to Harry, their interchanges over baby names were wonderful…great moments of fun to lighten the mounting tension.

The bad guys are BAD. No spoilers but who would have thought a brown paper bag could contain something so familiar yet so terrifying to a captive prisoner!

We should be hearing a lot about Streets of Darkness in the coming months as it is a debut of some note.  An absolute cert for a 5/5 review score, I tore through it and felt drained at the end. There is so much more I want to know about Harry and his family, it cannot come soon enough.

 

 

Streets of Darkness is published by Bantam Press on 16 June and is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Streets-Darkness-Detective-Harry-Virdee/dp/0593076648/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465852614&sr=1-1&keywords=streets+of+darkness

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