Will Miller

Shaheed! is a fresh and original story set around a South London estate and the young people who live there.

It begins with Jahangir. He is a fourteen-year-old returning from Pakistan, where he has been living with his uncle. They have been trying to track down Jahangir’s brother, who was kidnapped by the Taliban, and in his time there, Jahangir has learnt a lot about weapons and conflict.

Lorelei is Jahangir’s sister’s friend. She is the daughter of a Croatian single mother with a troubled past. Lorelei’s mother is beautiful and enigmatic and frightened of the man Lorelei used to think was her father. When her mother suddenly wants to take her to Dubrovnik, Lorelei doesn’t know why, or whether she wants to go.

Jahangir and Lorelei’s stories become interwoven. The novel takes in gangs, sexual violence, drugs, religion, the terrorist threat and the response of the state. It’s a heady mix. There are odd occasions where it feels a little weighed down with exposition, or where the pacing could be picked up, but on the whole it has great energy and the characters are rounded and engaging.

There’s a nice balance here between realism and adventure, drama and insight. Jahangir, Lorelei and a number of their classmates have experienced trauma that many adults cannot imagine. This has marked them, but they also behave like normal teenagers, texting, teasing, flirting. The way the humour and the darkness coincide is sensitively done by the author.

I recently picked up a popular thriller and there was a young male character who was involved with drugs and gangs in London. He felt unconvincing, like something the author had seen on TV, a scan of a photocopy of a fading Polaroid. By contrast, Shaheed! feels authentic and vital. Even though I’m not the target audience, I learnt a lot and was gripped to the end.
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I received a copy of this book from the author via a Librarything member giveaway.… (more)

You know that moment when Alai whispers "Salaam" in Ender's ear, and even though there's going to be violence ahead, you know it's all going to be okay? This book feels like that.

This isn't a love story, but it is the story of how a boy who knows how to make nitroglycerin and a girl about to be forced to flee the country to escape her mother's abusive ex-husband save each other. I'd follow Jahangir anywhere.

The relationships between the secondary characters were a surprising delight; I wish I'd gone to school with Jahangir's sister--maybe not THIS school; the Lyme Road School has got problems--and her relationship with Jahangir rings true and contentious and vicious and loving and perfect.

Plot summary ahead:

Jahangir is coming back to London after two years in Pakistan. His brother was kidnapped by the Taliban and killed in an American missile strike. Still traumatized, Jahangir comes home to find himself under suspicion by police and counterterror investigators.

Jahangir's classmate Lorelei thought she knew who her father was--her mother's abusive ex, the gangster Valon. But Valon has found out Lorelei's mother lied to him about that fact, and now he's threatening them both. When Valon kidnaps Lorelei, it may be that Jahangir, the boy who was taught to make nitroglycerine in Pakistan, just might be the only one who can save her.… (more)