The absolute best family drama ( )

Two and a half stars. I first read this a few years after it came out. At the time, I thought it was wonderful and that I'd read it again soon. Now, the second time I read it, I became irritated and resolved to make myself read it. This book is um...well, it's a murder mystery. It takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Members of a small mosque are under surveillance for possible links to terrorism. My blood ran cold at the premise, which I found problematic. I was going to read the whole book, though.

I know this is the second book in the series. I don't intend to read the rest of it, and I think the author did a great job in establishing this as the second book in the series. She catches you up on who's who in a way that feels natural, and there are a few hints of possible things to come in the series, in ways small and large. Rachel was insufferable, but I understood her to be necessary. The majority of women in this novel were portrayed negatively, as were most of the men. I was unhappy enough to have to take a break a third of the way through the novel. As it continued, the book became even more of a chore to read. It's also incredibly padded. How annoying. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I fell asleep twice trying to finish this. When I finally did, I was tired all over again. ( )

I started this book in 2016 and halfway through I set it down and it got lost in the book piles. Shame on me! I loved Khan’s first of the series, giving it a rave review, calling it “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.”

I can say exactly the same for this 2nd installment. Esa Khattak, head of Canada’s Community Policing Section is called in to assist the National Security team in an investigation of a Muslim group allegedly planning an attack on New Year’s Day. He pulls in his partner, Rachel Getty, to assist him. The National Security team is seemingly less welcoming of the addition of Khattak. Rachel goes undercover as a possible convert to Islam.

This is a wonderfully satisfying, detailed police procedural with that a two-steps forward, one-step back realism. The detailed investigation dominates, which some might find tedious, but others, like myself, are apt to find deliciously cerebral. The thriller bits towards the end are done well, they are satisfying without being too prolonged or over the top. The profile of Muslims and Islam is complex and interesting, and one is apt to learn something new from it.

When I finished this book, I immediately ordered the rest of the series… ( )

Ausma Zehanet Khan’s novel The Language of Secrets is the second in her series of crime thrillers featuring Detective Esa Khattak and Detective Rachel Getty. Khattak runs the RCMP’s Community Policing Service unit, which collaborates on crime prevention programs with local communities and organizations, with a particular focus on matters that have a racial or religious connection. In this novel, Khattak is called in by the local Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) to head an investigation linked to an extremist cell that is planning an attack somewhere in the Toronto area. An agent who infiltrated the cell has been murdered. However, INSET hasn't established that the death has anything to do with the group's terrorist activities, and Khattak is instructed to investigate it as an isolated incident: that is, find the killer without tipping off members of the cell that the police are on to them. The assignment is additionally complicated by several other factors: the murdered man was a friend of Khattak’s, the INSET official leading the terrorist investigation, Ciprian Coale, holds a personal grudge against Khattak and refuses to give him access to the information that INSET has amassed on the terrorists, and the charismatic leader of the cell is engaged to Khattak’s sister. To help with his investigation, Khattak recruits his young partner, Rachel Getty, to infiltrate the mosque where members of the cell congregate. The tale that Khan weaves is complex, multi-layered and mostly gripping. Esa Khattak, Khan’s attractive protagonist, is a 2nd-generation practicing Muslim whose brand of Islam advocates peace and tolerance, and he deplores the violence perpetrated by those who have twisted the tenets of Islam to suit a radical agenda. The novel puts the author’s extensive knowledge of Islamic history and culture on prominent display. The narrative itself proceeds at a breathless pace and generates considerable suspense. Inevitably, Khattak decides that if he’s going to find the killer, he has no choice but to violate Coale’s information-flow restrictions, and both Khattak and Getty place themselves in harm’s way in order to get to the truth. Unfortunately a couple of story elements are not entirely convincing: Coale’s animosity toward Khattak is so all-consuming that he appears willing to compromise both investigations in order to make his adversary look bad, and Rachel’s high-risk infiltration of the mosque is problematic for two reasons: her inexperience in undercover operations, and the fact that it takes place in the days leading up to the planned attack, when we can assume those involved in the plot are going to be at their most vigilant and even more deeply suspicious than usual of any new face that appears in their midst. Ultimately, the story that Khan has written takes place in a world of great moral uncertainty: a place where trust even among the police is a rare commodity. It also demonstrates that the disenfranchised are at great risk, and that the line separating the political from the personal is a very fine one indeed. ( )

A solid police procedural with well developed characters - being American, not Canadian, I had no idea it was inspired by actual events - the Toronto 18. AZK does an excellent job of combining real historical elements with fiction in a way that inspires the reader to look beyond the page and beyond themselves, to question their beliefs and prejudices. I cannot wait to start her next book. ( )