#BlogTour-‘No Place Of Refuge’ by Ausma Zehanat Khan

About the book..

Amid a global crisis, one woman searches for justice…

The Syrian refugee crisis just became personal for Inspector Esa Khattak and Sergeant Rachel Getty.

NGO worker Audrey Clare, sister of Khattak’s childhood friend, is missing. In her wake, a French Interpol Agent and a young Syrian man are found dead at the Greek refugee camp where she worked. Khattak and Getty travel to Greece to trace Audrey’s last movements in a desperate attempt to find her. In doing so, they learn that her work in Greece had strayed well beyond the remit of her NGO…

Had Audrey been on the edge of exposing a dangerous secret at the heart of the refugee crisis – one that ultimately put a target on her own back?

‘No Place of Refuge’ is a highly topical, moving mystery in which Khan sensitively exposes the very worst and best of humanity. Fans of the series will love this latest instalment

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things for the blog tour invite for ‘No Place Of Refuge’ which is published in paperback by No Exit Press on August 22nd.

This is a issue laden book which is, however, not issue laden. The characters and the plot serve a greater purpose in highlighting the plight of Syrian refugees, who are not just fleeing persection, threat of death and abuse, the are being thrown into a global spotlight. From the very word used to describe them, ‘Migrant’ instead of refugee, it creates a public perception of someone who chose to move from their homelands. In dismantling the very descrtiptor of those fleeing wartorn Syria, it makes it more palatable to hate and deny, to categorise them as ‘other’ instead of welcoming them and sharing what we countries take for granted.

It is said that the greatest show of humanity is evident in the way that the most vulnerable are treated, and as these individuals, and families are argued over as political pawns, there are sharks circling, looking to take advantage.

In this, the latest Khattak and Getty investigation, political and public dignitaries clash, legal and professionbal standards are bent beyond repair as the duo travel to Greece at the request of Nate Clare. His sister, a NGO(non-governmental organisation) representative named Audrey has been dispatched to Greece to oversee the running of Woman to Woman, a refugee organisation. It is currently being run by an ex-refugee named Shukri Danner. Her role is to oversee the facillitation of female refugees to Canada and track down relatives who might be prepared to take them in.

However, Audrey has gone missing, leaving behind two corpses-an French Interpol agent named Aude Bertin and a refugee named Sami Al-Nuri. Both have been shot with Audrey’s pistol which leaves so many questions to answer.

How did Audrey get a gun into Greece and why did she have one?

Did she kill either of the people and if she didn’t,who did?

Is this an attempt to undermine the Canadian refugee programme for resettlement, a contentious issue and incredibly volatile given the US treatment of these people at their point of need juxtaposed with the Canadian welcome comittee.

Or is it removing Audrey to undermine and hamstring the Woman To Woman operation, which has been so successful in helping to fast track female refugees?

It is a sinister and twisting plot that I really enjoyed reading as I found out a lot about the refugee experience in Europe, understood a little more about the origins of the Syrian conflict, the Arab Spring as well as the policis on who accepts these people and how they support them.#

Moving, tautly plotted with an engaging mystery running parrallel to the social and cultural themes, ‘No Place Of Refuge’ to me, represents the plight of refugees and a committment to finding the truth. With Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak on the case, lies will be dragged into daylight from their shadowy haunts as the truth will out. Humanity and inhumanity alike are exposed in this exhaustive investigation far from their normal patch in Canada. Both have valuable insights which are informed by, but are not dependant on, their personal lives and loves.

Dogged, determined and able to put aside familial obligations , Rachel and Esa hit the ground running as they set out to uncover who, and what, is preying on the camps in Greece.

I have included the recommended reading that Ausma has added in her author notes at the foot of the blogpost as I feel they are necessary and important, whilst distressing and awful, they illustrate why we need, as a society, to keep fighting for the rights of those without them.

I found it thoroughly engaging and am so happy to have the first 2 books in the series to look forward to on my bookshelves-I didn’t feel it was necessary to have read them to read this, but I am so intrigued about the back stories of the main characters that I want to return to the start.

Highly recommended, literary crime thrillers don’t come much better than this.

About the author..

Ausma Zehanat Khan is a British-born Canadian living in the United States, whose own parents are heirs to a complex story of migration to and from three different continents. A former adjunct professor at American and Canadian universities, she holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law, with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre as the main subject of her dissertation. Previously the Editor in Chief of Muslim Girl Magazine, Ausma Zehanat Khan has moved frequently, traveled extensively, and written compulsively. She is the author of 5 books and 1 novella in the Esa Khattak/Rachel Getty mystery series, including the award-winning ‘‘The Unquiet Dead’‘. And she is the author of The Khorasan Archives fantasy series, beginning with ‘‘The Bloodprint’‘. She has also written a middle grade non-fiction book called ‘‘Ramadan’‘