One Way Out: I love how the biggest plots in this series always have the complexities of family at heart

What is this about?

A right wing group called the Patriots sets off a bomb in Bradford’s City Park, and then announces to the world that they have a bomb planted in one of the hundred-plus mosques in the city — ones that are filled with Muslims in their time of prayer. Harry is in the park with his mother and Aaron when the first bomb goes off, but Saima is in one of the mosques. And that’s when things get worse because the Patriots want the leadership of a Muslim extremist group.

What else is this about?

I continue to be impressed that no matter the big cases or mysteries that Harry may be involved in, at its heart this series is one that is about family: Harry’s family, and in the case of this book, the family that extremists shape — whether they’re Muslim or right wing.

Blurb

A bomb detonates in Bradford’s City Park.

When the alert sounds, DCI Harry Virdee has just enough time to get his son and his mother to safety before the bomb blows. But this is merely a stunt.

The worst is yet to come.

A new and aggressive nationalist group, the Patriots, have hidden a second device under one of the city’s mosques. In exchange for the safe release of those at Friday prayers, the Patriots want custody of the leaders of radical Islamist group Almukhtaroon – the chosen ones.

The government does not negotiate with terrorists. Even when thousands of lives are at risk.

There is only one way out.

But Harry’s wife is in one of those mosques. Left with no choice, Harry must find the Almukhtaroon, to offer the Patriots his own deal.

Because sometimes the only way to save lives, is to take them.

One Way Out is the fourth instalment in the Harry Virdee series by A.A Dhand. It was released last year in June and it feels like I have been making my way to it on my TBR for so long, and then when I get there, and I start reading … the next thing I know, I’ve finished the book.

The anticipation didn’t even come close to how good this book is

Harry is at Bradford City Park with his mother Joyti, who in turn is there to visit with Aaron. They are waiting for Saima, who is finishing her prayers at a mosque. It is a sort of middle ground for them because as much as Jyoti is ready to make amends with Harry, his father is far from that point. So they visit at the Park, away from Ranjit’s eyes.

Which is when a bomb goes off in the park, and this nightmare begins. A right wing group, the Patriots, claims responsibility for it, and demands that the leaders of a Muslim extremist group, Almukhtaroon, be turned over to them.

But, of course, here’s the thing: this isn’t an out of the ordinary scene for readers, it’s entirely (scarily) possible. Granted, not everyone is a Harry Virdee, but the world he inhabits is ours, with its prejudices and ugliness.

Harry rushes his mother and Aaron out of the park, taking them to his parents’ house. He leaves Aaron with Jyoti, and her firm promise that no harm will come to him under that roof with a grandfather that doesn’t know how to do anything but hate. We learned that the hard way in the last book.

Saima is in one of the mosques, watching as an Imam tries to calm the people around her. Like the other mosques are doing, they begin a search for the bomb, and sure enough they find it. This makes it all the easier for Harry to agree to help Tariq Islam, a politician and former soldier he met earlier in this series, to find the leaders of Almukhtaroon and turn them over to the Patriots. Problem is, Tariq is his own level of darkness — and Harry is being drawn into this world.

So where does family come into this?

While Harry searches for the leadership of Almukhtaroon , Dhand does not lose sight of an important part of this series — family, specifically the discord between Harry and his parents, his father especially for marrying a Muslim woman.

As much as Jyoti promises Harry that Aaron will be safe under the same roof as the father that disowned him, it becomes clear that she was never as sure of that as she pretended to be. And sure enough, readers get to see a little of the push-and-pull of the Jyoti and Ranjit’s relationship, and what may have transpired between them when Ranjit disowned Harry — because as much as we have seen the effects on Harry, readers never really see what happened to Jyoti until now.

As much as Harry is running around trying to avoid an explosion, Jyoti and Ranjit have their own battle, with Ranjit finally facing what he has done to his family, and himself and Jyoti finally understanding why. I wanted Jyoti to yell at him, to take him to task for what he has done to their family, but in the end, that’s something he did for himself.

A.A Dhand doesn’t miss a beat with the characterisation of Harry and Saima, but it’s with Jyoti and Ranjit, and the exploration of where his hatred comes from and how it’s changed his family forever is what impressed me. Ranjit’s Islamophobia has changed his family, and robbed him of a relationship with his grandson. As much as I hope this is the start of change for Harry and his family, I would be disappointed if it was an easy journey — thus far, these complex characters have not taken the easy way out, so I don’t think happy families with his parents is on the horizon (not easily at least).

Unaware that his son has forced the beginning of a long overdue battle between his parents, Harry searches for the leadership of Almukhtaroon, starting with Isaac Wolfe, a young man Tariq brings to Harry. Isaac is a firm believer in Almukhtaroon and everything they stand for, and has appeared in their photographs. So begins a cat-and-mouse game between Harry and Isaac as they both try to understand what the other is capable of, and what they can get away with.

They’re both liars, and they both know they can’t really trust each other.

Dhand explores the relationships between the members of Almukhtaroon, using Harry’s search as a way to unravel just what they’re about.

It takes him through Bradford, through parts of the city we haven’t seen before, and through every moment there is always a sense of a countdown, of time running out for Harry and Saima, and that might be a big reason as to why it feels like I finished this book just as I started it. As in previous instalments, the pacing is superb.

There is no understanding extremism of any kind, but family is something that is the same no matter what: they know how to hurt you the most, they know how to forgive, and no one hates like family does.

Harry Virdee, cop?

When Tariq Islam recruits Harry, he draws Harry into a search for the leaders of Almukhtaroon being run outside the force, the rules that Harry chose to live by. And Harry does it — for his wife, and his city — but he does it. In fact, Saima has more contact with Harry’s colleagues than he does. Instead, Harry works to stay one step of ahead of them.

Politically, Harry’s world continues to grow bigger than a cop would expect. This case is a case that puts his face in the public eye in some ways, and I can’t help but think it does the same to his family — to Saima and Aaron, to his parents and to Ronnie who runs the drug trade in Bradford.

Whatever happens next, I don’t think Harry Virdee is going to be the same again.