Harry (a policeman whose work partners often ask to work with someone else) is now paired with Sal (who speaks Urdu with his parents). Sal with be the bag carrier - the one who updates the notebook that later will be typed into the national database, Holmes 2. There's a murder at the Central Mosque in Meadowvale when 100s were present. Shaun Evans' knifed body was found by Imam Malik, who'd had the area cleaned before the police arrived. There's much friction (police wearing shoes, women going where they shouldn't, refusal to be interviewed, accusations of disrespect). Sal, who used to go to the Mosque, helps calm things down, but not before "the faith", a gang of machet&eactute;d, masked youths, arrive. The Imam gets "the faith" to go away. Sal suspects that the Imam pays them. The Imam seems vain, liking his power. He agrees to give the police the CCTV recordings, but is evasive about naming the student who helped him when the body was found. Attempts by the police to do legal, routine investigation are met with threats to escalate, to use social media.
Sal has a wife and child. He's borrowing from the bank to gamble in unofficial dens with dodgy people - surely unwise for a policeman.
Aisha, a citizens advice bureau worker, was in the Mosque and was let out by Harry before she was searched - a mistake that Sal doesn't record. Sal and Harry each think that the other fancies Aisha and is letting her get away with too much. She seems to have friends among "the faith".
Shaun's parents didn't know that he also used an Arabic name (which is why he'd grown a beard). His body also showed signs that he might have been on a terrorist training course. Maybe the faith thought he was a double agent?
There are lots of little info-dumps about Islam and about crime statistics. Harry states statistics to back up views which he can't say for fear of being labelled a racist.
Harry and Aisha watch a Bollywood film together ("interviewing her" he says. Helping with his multi-cultural education, she says. She may well be trying to get information from him.
The loan-shark knows that Sal is a policeman with a young daughter, which makes his gambling habit all the more surprising. Harry pays the debt off for Sal, who has confessed to Harry and later confesses to his wife about his habit, promising to both that he's giving up.
Harry's talked to by MI5. The victim had been working for them since university.
CCTV evidence suggests that Aisha dumped a knife in the canal. A knife is found there. Aisha is the victim of an acid attack.
The Imam gives off-the-record evidence to Sal about the acid-thrower.
Shaun had got a Moslem woman pregnant. He'd wanted her to have an abortion. In a tussle he was knifed by another Moslem MI5 operative. MI5 convince Harry that for the greater good he should accept the story that they've concocted evidence for, that will stop the surviving operative being convicted. Harry and Sal aren't happy, and Sal points out the flaw in the rigged evidence. He goes back to gambling.
Other reviews
- whatsgoodtoread (For me, the ending was a bit tame, but that said, there wasn’t anywhere left for it to go without making a nonsense of the story or dragging it out
- goodreads
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