RaveNPRSahota, a British writer of Indian origin, has written not only a timely book, but a gut-wrenching, emotionally honest one, as well ... There are plenty of twists and turns to the story but Sahota's tension is created instead through the tenderness of his characters — their enormous restraint and empathy, their depth of feeling, combined with a willingness to hurt, to make bad decisions, to wound ... Sahota has done well. His writing is purposeful — there isn't an overwrought sentence. Not a big word in sight. I looked. Perhaps the only false note is that occasionally, inexplicably, in a world that is harsh and unforgiving, people are improbably nice.
Lawrence Osborne
PositiveNPROsborne's characters are distant, dispassionate human beings uninterested in much of anything — so when terrible things happen to them, it's hard to sympathize ... But that's a relatively small quibble in what is otherwise an elegant, dark, well-put together novel.
