The Prisoner

For his sobering debut thriller, Hamid draws on his own experiences as a police officer to plunge the reader headfirst into the murky world of Pakistani politics and justice. Constantine D’Souza, a relatively honest Karachi police officer, finds himself seeking the help of Akbar Khan, an estranged comrade and fellow crusader against imprisoned criminals enjoying political protection, in order to try to rescue Jon Friedland, a kidnapped American journalist. The U.S. is leaning on the Pakistani president for quick action, and the president, in turn, is leaning on military agencies. As D’Souza tries to make sense of the present mess, he thinks back to the events of the past decade, including the late-night police raids and extrajudicial killings that the police resorted to in hopes of reigning in the goons sponsored by the ruling coalitions. Hamid does a good job making D’Souza and his fellow officers sympathetic. One only wishes that the women in the story were more well-rounded. (Mar.)