The Unquiet Dead

This book was published in 2015 but I didn't take notice of it until someone praised it online. I thought I would see what this new to me Canadian mystery series was all about and now I am hooked. And it turns out this author also writes science fiction so I'm going to have to check that out too.

Detective Esa Khattak is head of Community Policing Section, a federal initiative set up in response to the bungling of the Maher Arar case.He and his partner, Rachel Getty, investigate crimes that are racially motivated, particularly ones against people of the Muslim faith. He gets a call from a friend who is a historian at the Department of Justice about the death of a man on the Scarborough Bluffs. For some chapters we don't learn why this show more would be a case for Khattak; he doesn't even disclose why he is looking into the death of Christopher Drayton. Drayton had a house on the shoreline in Scarborough and had done well as a businessman. He was planning to marry Mellanie Blessant, a local woman with two teenage girls, and he was contemplating making a large donation to a local museum that was about to open. So it seemed Drayton had a lot to live for which ruled out suicide. Then the question is did he slip or was he pushed? And did the secret in his past lead someone to end his life or was it domestically related? All of these things Khattak and Getty explore and eventually Getty finds out that Drayton changed his name before coming to Canada. He was from the former Yugoslavia and may be an architect of one of the worst incidences of genocide since the Second World War.

I was not paying much attention to the news when Yugoslavia melted into its component parts and fighting broke out there. I did know that Canada sent peacekeepers there and that there were many horrible events that caused PTSD in many of the soldiers who served there. This book filled in many of my knowledge gaps while still preserving an interesting story line in present day Canada. Well done. show less

At its deepest level, this is a book about identity. The characters have to deal with the labels their identities bring with them, be it with: family, occupations, gender, religion and even social status. But at most Khan brings the ugliness of identity politics to us in the comfortable west. The war that rip lives apart in the former Yugoslavia still hurts to this day. Khan brings that element boldly alive in not only having survivors retell their stories but also bluntly questioning the roles our leaders played during the massacres.

http://tinyurl.com/zyrs7a8

Christopher Drayton is found dead at the bottom of a cliff near his home and initially his death is considered suicide. However as Khattak and Getty start to look into his life suspicions are aroused. Is Drayton all he seemed? His fiancee seems only interested in his money and their is some disquiet about his interest in her daughters. But it is the discovery that Drayton was receiving letters related to the Yugoslavian Civil War and to the atrocities in Bosnia is particular that send the investigation in a completely different direction.

I have to admit that I found this book really slow to get into but once the link with Bosnia had been made I found the book fascinating. Khan has researched the awful events of the early 1990s extremely show more well and created a clever little plot in which the victim is not sympathetic at all and the suspects all have their individual motives for murder. It's not an original plot device but the stories of the victims of the war, both living and dead, are poignant and haunting. show less

I do not find it strange that Ausma Zehanat Khan chose the framework of a crime novel to write this haunting story of the atrocities carried out in Bosnia. What is crime fiction but the quest for justice? Scattered throughout the book are quotes from survivors' testimony to what happened all along the route to Srebrenica where so many innocents were massacred. These quotes become the Greek chorus of The Unquiet Dead. They serve to remind us how important it is to prove whether or not Christopher Drayton is a war criminal in order for true justice to be done.

As far as I'm concerned, Rachel Getty is the star of this book. Her abusive father, her runaway younger brother, her intelligence and drive-- all of this has come together to turn show more her into a good, intuitive police officer. I want to see more of her. On the other hand, I didn't much care for her boss, Esa Khattak. As seen here in The Unquiet Dead, Khattak's head is much too easily turned by a pretty face. Since at any given point in time females can make up at least 50% of a suspect list, that's a handicap I'd rather a major character not have. And speaking of Khattak's little foible, there are two important female secondary characters whose portrayals border on caricature.

But as irritated as I was with Khattak and those two women, I was immediately pulled right back into the story by Rachel Getty and Ausma Zehanat Khan's Greek chorus of voices. I have read books before where the dead were supposed to speak, supposed to cry out for justice, but this is the first time for me that they actually did. These voices horrified me. They made me weep. They made me despair-- once more-- for the human race. And they made me demand that Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak find them justice.

This is an unexpectedly powerful book that has me looking forward to the next in the series, The Language of Secrets. show less

I swear this is one of the most impactful mysteries I have read. First, I enjoyed the two main characters [Rachel & Esa] and was reminded a bit of Elizabeth George's Lynley/Havers pairing. But the mystery not only was well-written, it dealt with the tragic history and background of the 1990's war in the Balkans. I learned much from the book, and hope to learn more on my own. I guess I thought people & nations had learned something from World War II and the genocide in Europe, but apparently humans can't resist some sort of imperative to erase entire civilizations from the earth.

Inspector Esa Khattak, a second generation Canadian Muslim, has been promoted, to head Canada’s newly formed Community Policing Section, which has its headquarters in Toronto. Its remit is rather vague but has its roots in a perceived need to respond to an increasing shift to the right in Canadian politics and, seen from a rather cynical point of view, could maybe be a something of a “fig leaf”, there to counter any accusation of bias towards minority groups, particularly Muslims. Although he recognised the nature of his appointment, he relished the opportunity to select his own team, with his first choice being his previous partner, Sergeant Rachel Getty, a young woman he regarded as the best officer he had ever worked with.
One show more evening, as he is kneeling on his prayer rug, his evening prayers are interrupted by his telephone ringing. The call is from his friend Tom Paley, chief historian at the Department of Justice, who asks him to investigate the death of a wealthy businessman, Christopher Drayton, whose body was found on the shore following his fall from the cliffs near his home. Esa wonders why this apparent accident is seen as a job for his department but when his friend offers an explanation, he realises that he is about to embark on an investigation which will be both complex and highly sensitive, will bring back many painful memories for him and will frequently test his objectivity. As he finishes his prayers he feels glad that he will be able to rely on the clear-sighted support of Rachel. As the investigation progresses it soon becomes clear that, as Drayton’s past comes to light, there is no shortage of people who had the motivation to kill him.
From the opening sentence of this complex story, which links an investigation into a man’s sudden death with the Bosnian War and the massacre in Srebrenica in 1995, I felt immersed in the author’s eloquent and quietly powerful writing. All the sub-plots and their gradual resolutions were convincing and so too were each of the characters – some of whom I grew very fond of, and some of whom I really disliked – especially Melanie Blessant, Drayton’s gold-digging fiancée! I thought that the main characters, Esa and Rachel, were particularly well drawn, and that the relationship between two seemingly very different personalities worked in a convincing way. He older, “urbane, soft-spoken, respectful and decisive”, and very comfortable in his religious faith; she rather “boxy and square-shouldered” and unconcerned about her appearance; inclined to be rather direct in her interactions but also capable of great sensitivity. However, what they share, in addition to a commitment to seeking truth and justice for victims, is a profound sense of personal loss. Although this is, for the most part, unspoken and unshared between them, the reader gradually learns more about their personal backgrounds, what motivates their need for resolutions, and why their relationship works so well.
This is a story about revenge and retribution, loss, the power of love, redemption and the need for justice, for both the living and the dead. However, it also examines the complexities of the notion of justice, and whether it can always be achieved by following the strict letter of the law. Each of the chapters in the book starts with quotes from testimonies heard during the War Crimes Tribunal, held following the Bosnian War. There were times when these made me weep because of what they revealed, not only of the terrible things human beings are capable of, but also of the courage and hope which they represented in the face of truly monstrous treatment and experiences. However, it wasn’t until I reached the end of the book that I discovered that there are comprehensive notes from the author at the back which explain the origin of each of the quotes. I think it is a shame that there is no indication at the start of the book that they are there because they would have added an extra depth to my reading and to the developing story.
The author’s background as a human rights lawyer, with a specialisation in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans, enabled her to write with authority and powerful clarity on the genocide of Bosnian Muslims, especially in the Srebrenica massacre, as well as about the destruction of centuries of cultural heritage. This genocide is described as “Europe’s greatest tragedy since the Second World War”, a time when UN forces turned their backs on the Muslims and, by doing so, enabled the Bosnian Serbs to continue with the horrors of their rape and torture camps and their systematic slaughter of so many people, but especially of the men and the boys. This was a shameful period in modern history and I can recall with great clarity my horror at the time at what appeared to be going on in a country I had visited and loved. As more details emerged following the war, I became more aware of the extent of the horrors which had been perpetrated but The Unquiet Dead has brought to life, in such a powerful way, the awful realities for all those who were caught up in this reign of terror.
This is a book which is as deeply disturbing as it is moving. However, I think it is one which should be read by anyone who has an interest in trying to understand why such atrocities occur, the effects on the survivors and what we as fellow human beings need to do to attempt to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself – a lesson we seem to be particularly bad at learning.
I think that this is an outstanding debut novel and, because of the widely-ranging themes would be an ideal choice for reading groups. As I have now discovered, there three further books featuring the main characters (The Language of Secrets, Among the Ruins and A Death in Sarajevo) so I am looking forward to reading more of Khan’s intelligent, informed writing and to getting to know Esa and Rachel much better. show less

British-born, Canadian author Khan has written a near perfect, debut crime novel that stands up well against the best of police procedurals. She deftly balances and blends complex characters with an intelligent mystery for a truly satisfying read.

Esa Khattak is a homicide detective—a 2nd generation Canadian Muslim—who has recently been promoted to Canada's new Community Policing section. He's been asked to investigate the death of a local man and has chosen his former homicide division partner, Rachel Getty, to assist him. Khattak is handsome, middle-aged, quietly devout man, and clearly a skilled and talented detective. His character reminded me a bit of P.D. James's Adam Dalgliesh and Susan Hill's Simon Serraillier; with his faith show more used to deepen the character in the way Dalgliesh's poetry and Serraillier's art does. Rachel Getty is also clearly a skilled and talented detective, the daughter of a noted police officer (of the old school of policing), and it is her troubled family life informs her character.

I would rather not give too much of the plot away, except to say that the local man may or may not have committed suicide by falling off the bluffs outside his prestigious home, and that it is quickly suspected that he may not be "the upstanding Canadian citizen he appeared to be," and there may be ties to wartime Bosnia (here I should mention that the author has a PhD in International Human Rights).

[The Unquiet Dead] is an intelligent and powerful onion of a mystery, the author peeling away mesmerizing layer after layer until the end, oddly leaving the reader both deliciously satisfied and deeply affected.

(if there is a star rating attached to this that is less than 5 starts, it is an error. My laptop seems to not be handling some of LT well these days) show less