FADED LINES

A would-be actor gets caught up in his family’s illicit arms dealing.

As Paul’s novel opens, Asif al Faid, a wealthy, powerful black-market arms dealer, is ill and slowly dying. Given his line of business, he has some regrets, but none sharper than having involved his nephew Azar in his dangerous business. Sixteen years earlier, upon the birth of his daughter, Azar decided to distance himself from the family enterprise. But when his uncle informs Azar of the existence of a ledger citing the atrocities committed by the criminals he’s done business with, Azar realizes he may not be able to walk away so easily. Asif has “unfinished business” with the Pakistan Liberation Party and thinks they may only accept dealing directly with Azar, drawing him closer to his uncle’s world and further away from his own world of professional acting. In Karachi, he meets Dr. Maya Singh, who’s working with Doctors Without Borders in order to process her chaotic feelings after her husband of 28 years left her for another woman. Azar and Maya feel an almost immediate personal connection, and although Azar is married, he invites her to spend time with him. As their relationship deepens, Maya unwittingly gets drawn into Azar’s orbit. Paul pursues this overlay of a conventional romance with an appealing directness. And he has a talent for sculpting the personalities of the cast, from Azar’s family to Maya’s ex-husband, Dev. The international crime thriller storyline is also well handled as the stakes are raised for Azar and Maya. The prose can sometimes lapse into tired clichés—“wolves in sheep’s clothing,” “deafening silence,” etc.—but Paul manages the book’s two main plots—romance and crime—with enough skill to keep the pages turning.

An involving thriller that ably juggles themes of love, loyalty, and risk.