Unquiet Dead (Khan)

The Unquiet Dead  (Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak Novels, 1)
Ausma Zehanat Khan, 2014
St. Martin's Press
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250055187


Summary
Despite their many differences, Detective Rachel Getty trusts her boss, Esa Khattak, implicitly.

But she's still uneasy at Khattak's tight-lipped secrecy when he asks her to look into Christopher Drayton's death. Drayton's apparently accidental fall from a cliff doesn't seem to warrant a police investigation, particularly not from Rachel and Khattak's team, which handles minority-sensitive cases.

But when she learns that Drayton may have been living under an assumed name, Rachel begins to understand why Khattak is tip-toeing around this case. It soon comes to light that Drayton may have been a war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995.

If that's true, any number of people might have had reason to help Drayton to his death, and a murder investigation could have far-reaching ripples throughout the community. But as Rachel and Khattak dig deeper into the life and death of Christopher Drayton, every question seems to lead only to more questions, with no easy answers.

Had the specters of Srebrenica returned to haunt Drayton at the end, or had he been keeping secrets of an entirely different nature? Or, after all, did a man just fall to his death from the Bluffs?

In her spellbinding debut The Unquiet Dead, Ausma Zehanat Khan has written a complex and provocative story of loss, redemption, and the cost of justice that will linger with readers long after turning the final page. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1970
• Where—UK
• Education—Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Awards—B.A., University of Toronto; LL.B., LL. M, University of Ottawa
• Currently—lives Denver, Colorado, USA


Ausma Zehanat Khan is the author of the debut novel The Unquiet Dead published in 2014 to widespread critical acclaim, including a Publishers Weekly starred review, and reviews in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. The Unquiet Dead was also a January 2015 Indie Next pick. Her acclaimed second novel, The Language of Secrets, was published in 2016. She is also at work on a fantasy series, to be published in 2017.

A frequent lecturer and commentator, Ms. Khan holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. Ms. Khan completed her LL.B. and LL.M. at the University of Ottawa, and her B.A. in English Literature & Sociology at the University of Toronto.

Formerly, she served as Editor in Chief of Muslim Girl magazine. The first magazine to address a target audience of young Muslim women, Muslim Girl re-shaped the conversation about Muslim women in North America. The magazine was the subject of two documentaries, and hundreds of national and international profiles and interviews, including CNN International, Current TV, and Al Jazeera "Everywoman".

Ms. Khan practiced immigration law in Toronto and has taught international human rights law at Northwestern University, as well as human rights and business law at York University. She is a long-time community activist and writer, and currently lives in Colorado with her husband. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
Ausma Zehanat Khan's gripping first novel tackles questions of identity, culture, revenge and war horrors in a strong police procedural…. Khan illustrates her powerful storytelling through her well-sculpted characters…. An intelligent plot and graceful writing make The Unquiet Dead an outstanding debut that is not easily forgotten.
New York Times


Impressive…. Throughout Getty and Khattak’s solid and comprehensive investigation, Khan’s talents are evident. This first in what may become a series is a many-faceted gem. It’s a sound police procedural, a somber study of loss and redemption and, most of all, a grim effort to make sure that crimes against humanity are not forgotten.
Washington Post


The Unquiet Dead blazes what one hopes will be a new path guided by the author's keen understanding of the intersection of faith and core Muslim values, complex human nature and evil done by seemingly ordinary people. It is these qualities that make this a debut to remember and one that even those who eschew the genre will devour in one breathtaking sitting.
Los Angeles Times


This is Canadian-born Khan’s first novel and what a debut it is!... Khan knows her subject, knows her hometown, and knows how to keep the suspense building. This is a writer to watch.
Globe and Mail (Toronto)


[B]eautiful and powerful.... Through her characters’ interactions and passages taken from testimony at war crimes trials, Khan reveals the depths of horror and venality that people are capable of while also portraying the healing of long-sundered relationships.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Compelling and hauntingly powerful…anyone looking for an intensely memorable mystery should put this book at the top of their list.
Library Journal


The scandal of U.N. forces standing by while thousands of Muslim men, women and children were slaughtered is intensified by the possibility that Krstic entered Canada with a fortune in blood money. Khan’s stunning debut is a poignant, elegantly written mystery laced with complex characters who force readers to join them in dealing with ugly truths.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. The original title of this book was "An Unsafe Area." Now that you have finished The Unquiet Dead, consider why "An Unsafe Area" might have been an appropriate title. What themes, events or settings in the book does it speak to? Do you prefer this title to The Unquiet Dead? Why or why not?

2. By the end of the mystery, we learn that Inspector Khattak is certain that Christopher Drayton was pushed to his death by Imam Muharrem. However, no independent corroboration of Khattak’s conclusion is offered, as Muharrem never makes a direct confession. If Inspector Khattak is correct, should he have arrested Imam Muharrem? Has justice been served? What does the ending of the book tell us about our notions of what real justice is?

3. How do you interpret Mink Norman’s statement to Khattak: "In Bosnia, identity is a curse. So do not pretend to know us." Why is Khattak so personally invested in the investigation? In what ways do his personal feelings cloud his judgment, and/or help illuminate some of the facts that lead to the mystery’s resolution?

4. The relationship between the two detectives, Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty, is sometimes an uneasy one. Although Khattak treats Rachel with respect, Rachel behaves as though she has something to prove to him. What factors influence Rachel’s sense of inadequacy? What impact has Rachel’s relationship with her father, retired police superintendent Don Getty,had on her career as a police officer? In what ways do Esa Khattak and Don Getty differ as superior officers?

5. Mothers play an important role in The Unquiet Dead. We see strikingly different manifestations of motherhood in the characters of Melanie Blessant and Lillian Getty. Tangentially, we also hear about the mothers of Aldo and Harry Osmond, Nathan and Audrey Clare, and David Newhall. How might our traditional expectations of motherhood be subverted by the relationship between Melanie Blessant and her daughters, Hadley and Cassidy? Or by Lillian Getty’s relationship with her children, Rachel and Zachary? How might the deceased mothers of David Newhall and the Clares be more idealized by contrast?

6. One of the themes of The Unquiet Dead is loyalty versus betrayal, a theme that is both personal and political. In what sense might the Bosnian characters in the story believe that they have been betrayed? Is this betrayal personal or political? Does it apply to Mink Norman’s relationship with Esa Khattak? If so, which of these two characters might claim to have been betrayed by the other, and why? What other examples of loyalty or betrayal in The Unquiet Dead can you think of?

7. The Bosnian lily, or Lilium bosniacum, is a plant native to the country of Bosnia. The fleur-de-lis symbol used on the coat of arms of the kings of Bosnia until 1463 may have been a representation of the Bosnian lily. It was revived on the Bosnian flag of independence in 1992, then removed in later iterations of the flag. Discuss the significance of the Bosnian lily as a personal and a political symbol in The Unquiet Dead. Why does it matter that this lily was planted in Christopher Drayton’s garden? What impact does the discovery of the lily have on Christopher Drayton?

8. In The Unquiet Dead, the librarian Mink Norman alludes to the history of Moorish Spain or Andalusia. She sees this period of history as a "golden idyll," and later compares Andalusia to the country of Bosnia before the 1992 war. Is this a valid comparison? In his frequent visits to the Andalusia Museum, is Inspector Khattak drawn more to the history of Andalusia or to the librarian herself? What does Ringsong represent to Esa Khattak, and why might he identify so strongly with the museum?

9. Toward the end of the book, Rachel begins to focus on a series of clues: the music, the photograph, the lilies, the gun. What role does each of these clues play in the mystery? How does the association of these particular clues help Rachel understand what happened on the night that Christopher Drayton fell to his death?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

top of page (summary)