| Title | : | Red Warning (Lieutenant Ahmadzai Thrillers Book 1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 322 |
| Publication | : | Published January 17, 2024 |
Afghanistan.
1978.
Lieutenant Mohammed Mirwais Ahmadzai is an ambitious investigator in Kabul’s Criminal Investigation Division - a corrupt officer intent on furthering his own career at any cost.
When prominent Communist leader Mir Akbar Khaibar is murdered outside his home, Ahmadzai finds the body but loses the case to the Secret Intelligence Service.
Ahmadzai is quickly diverted to the murder of an American woman, shot dead in the street. Ahmadzai pursues the investigation with his usual vigour, but his superiors want it closed, not solved, and are not interested in the links he uncovers to Khaibar's murder.
Ahmadzai quickly falls out of favour. Eager to again prove his worth, he accelerates his investigation.
At the same time, the powder keg that is Afghan politics grows ever more volatile, with a coup rumoured to be ready to topple President Daoud and install a new dictatorship.
Ahmadzai’s zeal may prove his undoing. The closer he gets to the truth, the more he puts his career - and life - in danger.
Recommended for fans of David McCloskey, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst.
Phil Halton is a Canadian Army veteran. He is also the author of This Shall be a House of Peace, and Every Arm Outstretched, as well as Blood Washing Afghanistan’s Hundred-Year War.
Praise for Red Warning
'An intelligent thriller, providing insight into the power politics and history of Afghanistan. You will be gripped and informed.' Thomas Waugh
Praise for Phil
This Shall be a House of Peace
'Halton’s debut is a must-read for all who turn to books for an understanding of worlds other than their own.' Booklist
Blood Washing Afghanistan’s Hundred-Year War
'...Halton proves himself to be one of Canada's leading warrior-scholars. [He] combines meticulous scholarly research and ground-level field experience in a compelling story about Afghanistan's enduring war.' Dr. Aisha Ahmad, University of Toronto
Red Warning (Lieutenant Ahmadzai Thrillers Book 1) Reviews
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In Phil Halton’s RED WARNING, a corrupt Kabul policeman investigates a murder against the backdrop of the impending 1978 communist coup. Halton tackles his subject with the usual tension and realism, putting you in another culture and making it immediately feel relevant to offer a story that is simultaneously exotic and familiar.
I’d first discovered Halton at a local bookstore when I picked up THIS SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PEACE, about the founding of the Taliban, and then sought out EVERY ARM OUTSTRETCHED, about a Sandinista guerilla fighter seeking to topple the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. Two ambitious topics, given old Cold War and newer War on Terror taboos. As a warrior himself–as a Canadian Forces officer, he served in hot spots around the world–Halton did each justice, hooking me with exotic stories that feel lived-in and are engaging.
In RED WARNING, we’re introduced to Lieutenant Mohammed Mirwais Ahmadzai, a police investigator. At first glance, he appears to be fairly mercenary, but really it’s about personal survival, while hopefully being able to do his job. Over the course of the story, we see him relentlessly pursue and hunt down his quarry, only to be frustrated by how Afghanistan works, whether it’s the secret police, political pressure from the Americans, corruption, and the stubborn independence of the Pashtun tribes in the countryside, who only want the national government to leave them alone.
This is a country that is difficult to police and where the police are largely just another tribe requiring tribute, but in 1978 as it was when the Taliban recently retook the country, it was not all one stereotype, it’s a nation of intricate feuds, alliances, and political aspirations. At the time, communism appeared to offer the best bet to modernize the country into the twentieth century.
In short, RED WARNING is a lot of fun. The story is engaging and real, the protagonist flawed but likeable, the lived-in cultural setting fascinating, and the dialogue sharp. -
All the intrigue of a Scandinavian crime thriller moving across a genuine political backdrop.
Halton is a warrior-scholar with the rare ability of writing between genres. His 2021 book Blood Washing Blood: Afghanistan’ Hundred-Year War is the book I wish the West had access to prior to the conflict in Afghanistan. In Red Warning, Halton has taken his acumen of reading history and connecting dots and weaved it into fiction. If you’re a fan of Jo Nesbo or the Cormoran Strike series, this is one entry you won’t want to miss.
