Call Me Al

Altamaash the entertainer misstepped on to history’s stage to become a politician and created a lifetime’s worth of chaos and destruction in Pakistan. Now exiled to a London mansion, abandoned even by sycophants, Al yearns to relive the glory days of his rise to power. But the old guard has passed, and the colonial hangover in his home country has almost disappeared. Democracy is taking root, and with it is coming a fragile stability to the Third World. In these times Al’s desire for doing his best – what’s worst for the rest of us – flows into two acts of massive evil: one double-murder that shakes his own complacent party back to full attention; and a countrywide riot – the biggest the world has ever witnessed. All this Al orchestrates while perched luxuriously in exile in the UK. Woe to the day when he returns to claim the bloodstained crown. But cometh the hour, cometh the man! Sheheryar B. Sheikh’s new novel is a ripping rollercoaster ride through shenanigans of subcontinental politics, and it will keep you riveted.