Homegrown Hero is one of those books that left me exhausted by the end, and fumbling with my words as to how to write this review. The beauty of this book and this series remains its incredible characterisation. Homegrown Hero is also more Imy’s story than Jay’s I felt. Here’s why:

Imy 

Imy is a young Muslim man working in a real estate agency. He is good at what he does, and he hangs out with Shaz, one of his closest friends and does all the things friends like them should be doing. He came to London from Afghanistan, having lost his parents in the war there. Years later when he came to London he walked into the home of an aunt he never knew about, Khala, and found himself with a home he never knew he wanted and a second mother that adores him.

He also found Stephanie, a single mother with an adorable son, Jack who pretty much looks at Imy as his father. Imy finds himself happy, like he never thought he could ever be.

Imy is the quintessential young English man, who just happens to be trying to find a balance between being a Muslim man in love with an English woman, and not disappoint his Khala or lose Stephanie in the process. That’s all he needs to be worrying about.

But, he’s also a jihadi ordered to kill Jay. And my heart broke into a thousand little pieces for him by the end.

Characterisation 

I maintain this series exhibits some out of this world excellent characterisation wrapped around a plot point that could have gone so easily wrong. I have no problems mentioning who Imy is here, because the minute it was revealed that someone was after Jay, Imy’s POV started. There is no mistaking who Imy is in the book — and I made excuses and more excuses as to why Imy couldn’t be the man sent after Jay because I wanted him to have the life he was working so hard for.

There’s also no mistaking that Imy doesn’t want to do anything to Jay, and wants nothing more than his normal life back. There are reasons for his regret, and there’s a vast difference between the man who was saved by the unconditional love of his Khala, finding a life of his own in London that was more than he ever thought possible.

Along with Imy, there’s the story of Naaim, a young man who loses the love of his life after an attack on a bus that is uploaded to Youtube. Homegrown Hero explores how he descends into extremism, alongside Imy who is trying to break free of the memories of his life after his parents’ death — of being indoctrinated into Ghurfat-al-Mudarris, the terrorist organisation run by Jay’s father, the Teacher. That same situation also explores how Daniel, one of the boys who attacked them is pulled into a group of racists, who take advantage of his isolation, the loss of his mother and the grief he still carries with him.

Khurrum Rahman doesn’t pull any punches in dealing with either storyline, and each is as gripping and heartbreaking as the other. Their stories and the characters are infinitely complex, and you will sympathise with them all, and still wonder how they could do the things they do. And, of course, it all revolves around Jay.

Jay

After book 1, Jay has left MI5 behind. He goes to a 9-5 job, hangs out with acquaintances, who are becoming friends no matter how much he insists to himself they aren’t. He catches up with Idris, and shoots the breeze like they used to, but underneath it all lies his experiences with MI5, the loss of his friend, Parvaz, in a terrorist attack, and wondering about his father, about why he left his mother and himself. Jay hates him, and everything he stands for. But at the same he doesn’t want to, he can’t understand the choices he’s made — and why Jay himself was never something his father chose.

As a result of the failure of that attack in East of Hounslow, and his involvement a fatwa has been placed on him, without his father’s knowledge — why? Because his father is on the run, hiding in caves and with other sympathisers in Afghanistan trying to avoid being caught because his son gave away all his secrets to MI5. And yet, he still wants to save Jay from the fatwa.

Jay has some serious PTSD going on I think. He is trying to ground himself and it’s not working. He gets drawn into Naaim’s loss and quest for vengeance despite trying very hard not to, and he wants to be there for him, as much as he resists that pull and even  though he doesn’t quite admit it to himself.

Jay is older, wiser, and just a little more broken knowing the truth of his father and after the losses he experienced in book 1. He’s shared it with no one, save a nameless therapist MI5 suggested.

Naaim reminded me of Parvaz, that innocence that is slowly eroded because of everything he experiences, despite everything Jay did.

The Ending  

Bloody cliffhangers. My heart was in my mouth and I swear I gasped out “Nooooo” in the middle of my bus ride to work. Bloody hell. I needed a moment or several after that ending.

The Jay Qasim series is hands down one of the best series I’ve read in a long time. Please go read it.

Homegrown Hero is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.

Will you be picking up Homegrown Hero? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

JAY QASIM is back home in West London and in pursuit of normality. He’s swapped dop-dealing for admin, and spends his free time at the local Muslim Community Centre or cruising around Hounslow in his beloved BMW. No-one would guess that he was the MI5 spy who foiled the most devastating terrorist attack in recent history. But Jay’s part in sabotaging Ghurfat-Al-Mudarris’ hit on London didn’t pass unnoticed. IMRAN SIDDIQUI was trained to kill in Afghanistan by tthe terrorist cell who saved his life after his home was destroyed by war. The time has finally come for him to repay them – throwing him headlong into the path of Jay Qasim. Now, they must each decide whose side they’re really on.

The post Review: Homegrown Hero by Khurrum Rahman appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Javid (call him Jay) Qasim lives in East of Hounslow, a Muslim community in London that has its religious community members, the ones who attend mosque as they are required to do. Then there are those community members who date white boys from school, and wear their skirts way too short. Essentially, like every other community out there, East of Hounslow is a melting pot.

It’s been Jay and his mother for years, and his father is a distant memory. She lets him do what he wants, and by that I mean she doesn’t force him to attend mosque every day or observe other Muslim traditions. She has let him find his path in how to be Muslim, and that means going to mosque every Friday for Jay. In between all that, he is a small-time drug dealer.

When a school is attacked in Canada, and a Muslim terrorist cell claims responsibility, something clicks in Jay. He wants to make a difference, to affect change. He doesn’t himself, his mother, or the other Muslims he knows to be tarred by the same brush as these terrorists. It’s illuminating how fervently he whispers and wishes to himself that the perpetrators not be Muslim as he watches the news report of the attack, waiting for the (inevitable) sequence of of words he comes to expect in news reports of this kind.

On the night of the attack on the mosque, Jay is roped into being part of a trio of young Muslim men out looking for revenge on white people. See how this circle of violence keeps going? It doesn’t end well with Jay’s car and his stash of drugs stolen and he finds himself in debt to a drug dealer — the kind that runs drugs and guns and gives him just days to repay the thousands he owes. This makes it easy for MI5 to step in.

There is a larger game in motion here with MI5 stepping in to rescue Jay, such as it is. They begin to isolate him, taking his best friend, Idris from him, an act for their benefit which works well when his mother moves away to Qatar to pursue a new relationship. Jay is persuaded to be their mole, and soon enough his now frequent visits to the mosque and prayers begin to get the notice of the right people.

And the right people? Are the ones who want isolated young men and women, who are easy to mould into their way of thinking. What Jay doesn’t realise, is that Parvez, a young man he grew up with, is already part of this group.

So Jay begins to grow ever more part of this group with both readers and Jay given some kind of insight into the other members are like, into what brought them into the group, but it is Parvez’s story that resonates the most. Even though they grew up together, Jay and Parvez are vastly different. Parvez goes to mosque, behaves like a good Muslim boy should, but the world around him looks at him differently, laughs and mocks him too — Jay does the same. For all that he wants to keep Parvez safe, he treats him like an irritating younger brother he’d like to shoo away to not cramp his style — even though Parvez wants nothing more than to be his friend.

Within this terrorist cell…. Group? I’m still not entirely sure what to call them. Parvez is the accomplished one, the one who is trained and knows guns and bombs, and who looks at Jay like he doesn’t belong. This role reversal shows Jay just how far Parvez has gone down this path, but still Jay sticks fast to the idea that he needs to save Parvez.

Characterisation, Pacing, and MI5

If you didn’t know the colour of his skin, or his faith, Jay would like any other English guy, with a fondess for the word f*#k in whatever combination fits the situation. He is coasting through life, expecting the good life from his drug dealing to continue until he realises it can’t. Then we see the core of him, the person who is hopes desperately that his faith (and himself and his friends) aren’t going to be pointed at in the wake of another terrorist attack.

So, it’s easy for Parker, his MI5 handler to convince him to do what they want, and it’s cool for a bit, until it isn’t. Until it’s months later, and months of Muslim classes and lectures about faith, and how to plan an attack correctly for maximum casualties means Jay finds himself forgetting who he is and trying desperately to hold on to the guy he was before.

The action goes from England to the Middle East, taking Jay and readers to the core of this ‘training’ and showing Jay the scope of what he has gotten himself into.

All of this is a sort of coming-of-age story for Jay, learning about the world beyond Hounslow and his little sphere of experience. I never doubted that his faith meant something to him, even though he was a drug dealer; and that Parvez for all his irritating young brother tendencies meant something to him too.

Rahman’s writing is impeccable as he takes readers through Jay’s journey, through the understanding of those around him, and what Parvez, who he thought he knew, has become. Last but not least, is the reason why MI5 chose Jay — and that forces him and readers to think of himself and what he is going through in an entirely different way.

East of Hounslow is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.

Will you be picking up East of Hounslow? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Meet Jay.
Small-time dealer.
Accidental jihadist.
The one man who can save us all?

Javid – call him Jay – is a dope dealer living in West London. He goes to mosque on Friday, and he’s just bought his pride and joy – a BMW. He lives with his mum, and life seems sweet.

But his world is about to turn upside-down. Because MI5 have been watching him, and they think he’s just the man they need for a delicate mission.

One thing’s for sure: now he’s a long way East of Hounslow, Jay’s life will never be the same again.

With the edgy humour of Four Lions and the pulse-racing tension of Nomad, East of Hounslow is the first in a series of thriller starring Jay Qasim.

The post Review: East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman appeared first on The Nerd Daily.