The Unquiet Dead

Fantastic example of a great mystery combined with truly compelling literary fiction at its best. The relationship between Esa and Rachel is fascinating, and I can't wait to see it play out over (hopefully) many books to come. Highly recommended!!

This is a well-researched historical mystery. The historical part is its strength. I didn't find the story, characters, or mystery that compelling, though.

Excellent. Tackles the evil, lasting pain of genocide and brightness of hope and art. I wish this mystery series was more widely available.

This story was an interesting mix of small-scale and large-scale crime: a man is found dead after falling from the Scarborough bluffs, possibly due to foul play. As investigators Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty investigate him, though, they start to suspect he may be connected to the war crimes of the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War of the early 1990s. Through both of these events Ausma Zehanat Khan explores ideas surrounding justice, loyalty, and the lasting effects of crime on a community. The war crimes Khan writes about are shocking, and for some are hard to read about, but Khan contrasts the events with characters that are deeply humane (if flawed), which makes it easier to read about.

The Unquiet Dead is a very slow-burning novel - in the early sections it feels very slow and cold. If you stick with it, though, it is and incredibly rewarding and haunting piece of literature.

For the Read Harder Challenge, a mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+. The sections dealing with the past genocide of Muslims in Bosnia were gripping, and if the entire book had been as well written, I would have given it at least 4 stars. But the main characters in the detective story are oddly portrayed–the police hardly investigate at all and personalities aren't ever fleshed out. I also kept wondering if I missed an earlier book, although this is #1, because there were so many vague references to past experiences that didn't really move the current story along. I would give these sections a 2 or less, so split the difference with a 3.

descriptions/excerpts of the genocide are incredibly brutal fyi and will break your heart

I wanted to love this book with its complex, heart wrenching plot, but I struggled with the author's character depictions. Many times I felt that emotions were dramatic, even for the serious subject matter. Reading a real story around the Bosnian genocide was unusual and horrifying at the same time.

I did like the author's rich detailing of time and place, and how diverse her characters are in backgrounds.