Amer Anwar

Western Fringes reminds me of a Bollywood movie, except there are no dance scenes. But there is a rather improbable plot, a hero who seemingly is undesirable given his five years in prison but he's really a good guy who has had bad luck, and lots of fight scenes. It all takes place in London and starts off simply enough. Zaq's boss at the warehouse orders him to drop everything and quickly find Rita, his missing daughter, or the boss will plant false evidence sending Zaq back to prison. Apparently dad and Rita's two tough guy brothers want her married to a man of their choosing, and out of their lives.

Before you can say "watch out", Zaq is attacked in the dark by three mysterious guys. Every blow and counter blow is described. Every blow. And then every bruise, laceration, ache and pain. The plot evolves into something a lot more complex . But before you can say "watch out" again Zaq is attacked once more. And again. I think there are at least six major brawls in the story and in each fight, we learn of every punch and counter. In the climactic scene, Zaq fights not three, not four, not five, but six bad guys simultaneously, and survives for ten minutes before......well, I don't want to ruin the scene for you.

Some of the dialog reminds me of old cowboy movies I used to watch. Somebody in the course of the fight actually says "have that". A lot of the story is along the line of he goes here, turns here, then goes here, then here, then says - maybe more appropriate for a movie script. The proof reading is atrocious - too often there were missing words, or added words. Doesn't anybody read the texts before the book is finalized for publication anymore?!

To the authors credit this book received the CWA Debut Dagger. And I did enjoy and appreciate that the author used proper street names and landmarks; it was enjoyable being able to follow his twists and turns on Google maps and see what Southall neighborhoods look like.… (more)