‘A fascinating glimpse into a world rarely portrayed in fiction.’
The Khan
A Times Bestseller
Saima Mir‘Bold, addictive and brilliant.’ Stylist, best fiction 2021
A Times Bestseller
A Times & Sunday Times Best Crime Books of 2021
A Waterstones Best Crime & Thriller of 2021
Be twice as good as men and four times as good as white men.
Jia Khan has always lived like this.
Successful London lawyer Jia Khan is a long way from the Northern streets she knew as a child, where her father, Akbar Khan, led the Pakistani community and ran the local organised crime syndicate.
Often his Jirga rule – the old way – was violent and bloody, but it was always justice of a kind.
Now, with her father murdered, Jia must return to take his place. Justice needs to be restored, and Jia is about to discover that justice always comes at a cost.
‘A fascinating glimpse into a world rarely portrayed in fiction.’ Guardian, best crime and thrillers
‘A once-in-a-generation crime thriller.’ A.A.Dhand, author of Streets of Darkness
Reviews
Guardian, best crime and thrillers
‘Bold, addictive and brilliant.’
Stylist, best fiction 2021
‘This impressive debut is not only about crime, justice, race and prejudice, but also about self-deception, disillusion and how the people you love most can be those you can bear least.’
Times and Sunday Times, book of the year
‘Compelling and gritty’
Cosmopolitan
‘Intense drama. The information she imparts is often eye-popping... This impressive debut reveals a world in which monsters exist “in the guise of friends and behind smiling faces”. It is a considerable achievement.’
The Times, best crime fiction
‘The Khan is strong on illuminating the networks of family and community, giving fresh life to its familiar plot – essentially a Bradford take on The Godfather.’
Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction
‘With The Khan, Saima Mir delivers a once-in-a-generation crime-thriller and in Jia Khan has created a female South-Asian protagonist who is fierce, passionate and absolutely compelling. This is not simply black-and-white on the page. It’s blood. It’s emotion. It’s tears, anger, betrayal and revenge. An outstanding debut which deserves to be read widely.’
A.A.Dhand, author of Streets of Darkness
'A tremendous debut (Jia Khan is a fascinating, multi-layered protagonist). Timely, authentic, immersive and powerful. Hints of The Godfather. SUPERB.'
Will Dean, author of the Tuva Moodyson mysteries
‘It takes guts to pick up the plot of The Godfather, pull it apart and reassemble it in the streets of a small northern city with a passing resemblance to Bradford but that is what Saima Mir has done... An eye-opening look at a world that rarely makes it into fiction… Jia could be coming to our screens soon, but I’m more interested in what Mir does next.’
Evening Standard
‘When her father is murdered, Jia is plunged into a brutal power struggle among the communities, which — while Akbar was alive — the police counted on him to control… Does Jia become Michael Corleone to survive?’
Daily Mail
'A brilliant debut from an exciting new voice for our times. A thrilling book with a thrilling hero in Jia. Brava.'
Imran Mahmood, author of You Don't Know Me
'It’s an amazing piece of work and very timely at the moment... An amazing sense of place and time. I’m sure it’s going to be a sensational debut.'
Lesley McEvoy, author of The Murder Mile
Saima Mir
Saima Mir has written for The Times, Guardian and Independent. Her essay for It’s Not About The Burqa (Picador) appeared in Guardian Weekend and received over 250,000 hits online in two days. She has also contributed to the anthology The Best, Most Awful Job: Twenty Writers Talk Honestly About Motherhood. Saima grew up in Bradford and now lives in London.
Author page
Related news & events
The Khan is Waterstones Thriller of the Month
3rd May, 2022
The Khan by Saima Mir has been selected as Waterstones Thriller of the Month for May. Waterstones said that ‘The Khan is a gripping and multifaceted c…
