Brothers In Blood by Amer Anwar
Dec. 6th, 2025 05:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Together they stand. Together they fall.
Southall, West London. After being released from prison Zaq Khan is lucky to land a dead-end job at a builders’ yard. All he wants to do is keep his head down and put his past behind him.
But when Zaq is forced to search for his boss’s runaway daughter, he quickly finds himself caught up in a deadly web of deception, murder and revenge.
With time running out and pressure mounting, can he find the missing girl before it’s too late? And if he does, can he keep her - and himself - alive long enough to deal with the people who want them both dead.
Following his release from prison for manslaughter, the only job that university graduate and former city worker Zaqir “Zaq” Khan can get is as a delivery driver and dogsbody at a builder’s yard in Southall, West London. Not that Zaq is bothered. He knows that he is lucky to get any work given his record. Estranged from his younger brother and uncomfortable with the hurt he’s caused his parents, he’s currently living in a house share with 3 other men and treading water, uncertain about what to do with his life.
Everything changes when the owner of the builder’s yard - Mr Brar - summons Zaq to his office and tells him that he has a job for him. Mr Brar’s daughter - Surinder ‘Rita’ Brar - has run away from home. Mr Brar claims he doesn’t know why but he won’t go to the police because if word gets out in the Sikh community that she’s gone, it will damage his family’s reputation. If Zaq refuses to find her and tell Mr Brar where she is, Mr Brar will tell the police that Zaq has been stealing - or worse - and Zaq will go back to prison because with his record no one will take his word over that of a respected business man.
Reluctantly, Zaq agrees to look for her, certain that there is more to the story than Mr Brar is saying and sure that Mr Brar’s sons Rajinder and Parminder (who have a renovations business but are rumoured to be involved in more unsavoury things) know more than they’re saying. Armed with a list of Rita’s friends who may have information and some telephone numbers, Zaq enlists his best friend Jagdev ‘Jags’ Kholi to help.
It isn’t long before Zaq’s investigation leads him to murder, revenge and a thick web of deception and conspiracy that puts him in the path of West London’s more criminal elements and it soon becomes clear that at least one person would like to put a permanent end to his activities. But Zaq has some cards of his own to play, because his time inside toughened him up and left him allies every bit as criminal as the people he is facing …
It’s not hard to see why Amer Anwar’s debut crime novel won the CWA Debut Dagger Award. Setting his story within the British Asian community offers a fresh take on the detective format and he’s created an interesting main character in Zaq, who makes the most of what he learned and who he met in prison. What lifts the story is Zaq’s relationship with best friend Jag, which brings in humour and humanity when at times the plot begins to creak.
I picked this up because crime fiction is a particular love of mine and I’m always interested in fresh takes so when I saw that this had won the CWA Debut Dagger Award I knew that there was going to be something to it. What also made this book appealing is the West London setting because I know the area pretty well so wanted to see how the author used it.
I’m going to start by saying that I really enjoyed this book. Anwar clearly knows the area, his descriptions of Southall and Hounslow, feel authentic and familiar, as do his descriptions of the house share that Zaq lives in (his interactions with the other 3 residents being particularly amusing - I loved the way they take the Michael out of him for constantly being beaten up) and the builders yard where Zaq’s manager Sid tries - and fails to control Zaq and exercise his authority over the other workers.
Zaq is a well drawn main character. His comfortable life climbing the corporate ladder was destroyed by one stupid mistake and now he’s struggling to come to terms with what he did and who he now is. One of the great things about this book is how Anwar brings in the connections that Zaq made to petty criminals who are then well placed to help him with his investigation, particularly Biri, a high-end car thief who still has his fingers in murky pies and who has a huge amount of potential for future books. At the same time prison toughened Zaq up both mentally and physically as he learned how to fight and handle himself around others who want to harm or intimidate him. The stand out relationship though is his friendship with Jags, who is both sidekick and comic relief but who is not afraid to tell Zaq when he’s being stupid. Some of the best moments in the story come in their scenes together and I liked the fact that while Jags has a respectable IT job, he’s very happy to slack off when he wants to.
Anwar does a good job of showing the relationships between the various religious groups within the book and it’s Mr Brar’s concern to retain his status in the Sikh community that drives his desire to find Rita. Anwar shows the sexist and racist attitudes that can affect the various communities, weaving them in to drive the plot forward. The investigation itself held my interest and I enjoyed following how an initially clueless and out of his depth Zaq stumbles across leads before improving and slowly beginning to work out how to direct the investigation himself.
If I had a criticism then it’s that Anwar’s incorporation of a side plot involving attempts on Zaq’s life doesn’t quite work as I think he intended. This is in part because the reveal about what is going on necessitates an information dump quite late on but also because the relevant characters are not as well drawn as the others in the book. Being picky, the events leading up to the denouement also rely a fair bit on contrivance to get them to hang together but in all fairness, Anwar’s characters themselves say the same thing, which helped me to give it a pass.
I was very excited to learn that there is a sequel to this book and have added it to my To Read pile. I was, however, also sad to learn that Anwar died in 2025 as it means this never got a chance to become a series that I’m sure would have become a classic.
The Verdict:
It’s not hard to see why Amer Anwar’s debut crime novel won the CWA Debut Dagger Award. Setting his story within the British Asian community offers a fresh take on the detective format and he’s created an interesting main character in Zaq, who makes the most of what he learned and who he met in prison. What lifts the story is Zaq’s relationship with best friend Jag, which brings in humour and humanity when at times the plot begins to creak.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Southall, West London. After being released from prison Zaq Khan is lucky to land a dead-end job at a builders’ yard. All he wants to do is keep his head down and put his past behind him.
But when Zaq is forced to search for his boss’s runaway daughter, he quickly finds himself caught up in a deadly web of deception, murder and revenge.
With time running out and pressure mounting, can he find the missing girl before it’s too late? And if he does, can he keep her - and himself - alive long enough to deal with the people who want them both dead.
Following his release from prison for manslaughter, the only job that university graduate and former city worker Zaqir “Zaq” Khan can get is as a delivery driver and dogsbody at a builder’s yard in Southall, West London. Not that Zaq is bothered. He knows that he is lucky to get any work given his record. Estranged from his younger brother and uncomfortable with the hurt he’s caused his parents, he’s currently living in a house share with 3 other men and treading water, uncertain about what to do with his life.
Everything changes when the owner of the builder’s yard - Mr Brar - summons Zaq to his office and tells him that he has a job for him. Mr Brar’s daughter - Surinder ‘Rita’ Brar - has run away from home. Mr Brar claims he doesn’t know why but he won’t go to the police because if word gets out in the Sikh community that she’s gone, it will damage his family’s reputation. If Zaq refuses to find her and tell Mr Brar where she is, Mr Brar will tell the police that Zaq has been stealing - or worse - and Zaq will go back to prison because with his record no one will take his word over that of a respected business man.
Reluctantly, Zaq agrees to look for her, certain that there is more to the story than Mr Brar is saying and sure that Mr Brar’s sons Rajinder and Parminder (who have a renovations business but are rumoured to be involved in more unsavoury things) know more than they’re saying. Armed with a list of Rita’s friends who may have information and some telephone numbers, Zaq enlists his best friend Jagdev ‘Jags’ Kholi to help.
It isn’t long before Zaq’s investigation leads him to murder, revenge and a thick web of deception and conspiracy that puts him in the path of West London’s more criminal elements and it soon becomes clear that at least one person would like to put a permanent end to his activities. But Zaq has some cards of his own to play, because his time inside toughened him up and left him allies every bit as criminal as the people he is facing …
It’s not hard to see why Amer Anwar’s debut crime novel won the CWA Debut Dagger Award. Setting his story within the British Asian community offers a fresh take on the detective format and he’s created an interesting main character in Zaq, who makes the most of what he learned and who he met in prison. What lifts the story is Zaq’s relationship with best friend Jag, which brings in humour and humanity when at times the plot begins to creak.
I picked this up because crime fiction is a particular love of mine and I’m always interested in fresh takes so when I saw that this had won the CWA Debut Dagger Award I knew that there was going to be something to it. What also made this book appealing is the West London setting because I know the area pretty well so wanted to see how the author used it.
I’m going to start by saying that I really enjoyed this book. Anwar clearly knows the area, his descriptions of Southall and Hounslow, feel authentic and familiar, as do his descriptions of the house share that Zaq lives in (his interactions with the other 3 residents being particularly amusing - I loved the way they take the Michael out of him for constantly being beaten up) and the builders yard where Zaq’s manager Sid tries - and fails to control Zaq and exercise his authority over the other workers.
Zaq is a well drawn main character. His comfortable life climbing the corporate ladder was destroyed by one stupid mistake and now he’s struggling to come to terms with what he did and who he now is. One of the great things about this book is how Anwar brings in the connections that Zaq made to petty criminals who are then well placed to help him with his investigation, particularly Biri, a high-end car thief who still has his fingers in murky pies and who has a huge amount of potential for future books. At the same time prison toughened Zaq up both mentally and physically as he learned how to fight and handle himself around others who want to harm or intimidate him. The stand out relationship though is his friendship with Jags, who is both sidekick and comic relief but who is not afraid to tell Zaq when he’s being stupid. Some of the best moments in the story come in their scenes together and I liked the fact that while Jags has a respectable IT job, he’s very happy to slack off when he wants to.
Anwar does a good job of showing the relationships between the various religious groups within the book and it’s Mr Brar’s concern to retain his status in the Sikh community that drives his desire to find Rita. Anwar shows the sexist and racist attitudes that can affect the various communities, weaving them in to drive the plot forward. The investigation itself held my interest and I enjoyed following how an initially clueless and out of his depth Zaq stumbles across leads before improving and slowly beginning to work out how to direct the investigation himself.
If I had a criticism then it’s that Anwar’s incorporation of a side plot involving attempts on Zaq’s life doesn’t quite work as I think he intended. This is in part because the reveal about what is going on necessitates an information dump quite late on but also because the relevant characters are not as well drawn as the others in the book. Being picky, the events leading up to the denouement also rely a fair bit on contrivance to get them to hang together but in all fairness, Anwar’s characters themselves say the same thing, which helped me to give it a pass.
I was very excited to learn that there is a sequel to this book and have added it to my To Read pile. I was, however, also sad to learn that Anwar died in 2025 as it means this never got a chance to become a series that I’m sure would have become a classic.
The Verdict:
It’s not hard to see why Amer Anwar’s debut crime novel won the CWA Debut Dagger Award. Setting his story within the British Asian community offers a fresh take on the detective format and he’s created an interesting main character in Zaq, who makes the most of what he learned and who he met in prison. What lifts the story is Zaq’s relationship with best friend Jag, which brings in humour and humanity when at times the plot begins to creak.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
