Domestic Noir- it's not a genre I particularly enjoy reading. There's something about nasty neighbours which triggers an anxiety in me. I think it's to do with home spaces being threatened by others close by- this kind of intensive no-escape situation chills me, and not in the stimulating way of a creepy horror story. I can only think of a couple of irritations I've had with neighbours over the years in the various places I've lived so its not to do with that but I can sense how easily these can get out of hand.
I don't think the reading public are in line with me here as these home-based thrillers tend to sell very well. I must admit that here I was a little put off by the title wondering if Kia Abdullah had written a book which wasn't for me and in the early stages this felt like this might have been confirmed but I was driven on by the cover also informing me that this was a legal thriller and I know this is what this author does so well.
This is the fourth Kia Abdullah novel and I'm pleased to say I've read them all and I'd have to think very hard to come up with an author who is better at plotting and building a novel to provide maximum thrills. Her novels have tended to follow a formula -structure-wise and this works really very well. Debut "Take It Back" I described as "really impressive"; "Truth Be Told" I said "I savoured every word "; of "Next Of Kin" I said "Also like last time I found myself covering the bottom half of pages as I didn't want to know of various outcomes until the exact moment Kia Abdullah intended me to". This happened again with her latest book.
Salma and Bil Khatun move into a new neighbourhood with teenage son Zain and the thrill of the new move is tainted when their neighbour Tom takes offence at a "Black Lives Matter" banner Zain has put in a flower-pot. Nothing in a Kia Abdullah novel can be taken at face value. Sometimes the motives are not the most obvious ones and there's a level of complexity to issues which is intoxicating.
Relationships get further strained as incidents between the neighbours mount up (and I did find some of this difficult reading) until, we assume, because this has been the pattern of each of her novels so far, that something will occur which will end up in a court-room.
The legal proceedings feel slightly less prevalent than in some of its predecessors but with aspects of the case not fully revealed it makes for gripping reading, This feels her most commercial novel so far and I am not surprised it is doing so well for this author. If this is your introduction to Kia Abdullah you are in for a treat but please discover her back catalogue so far as two of her novels have been outstanding. This book will help to confirm her position as I said in my "Take It Back" review into "The Premier League of contemporary crime-writers".
Those People Next Door was published in HQ in 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment