The jasmine sari - Philip Tucker

Written with the authentic insight of a former counter-terrorism officer, The Jasmine Sari is an evocative and fast-paced thriller that explores the complexities of terrorism and the frailty of those who become terrorists. Seasoned London anti-terror cop Alex Cadman is sent to Bangladesh to share his experience with local police officers. He thinks his days of working on terrorist investigations are long gone. After all, he has enough on his hands dealing with the arrogantly talented Sam Kanoski, the academic terrorism 'expert' with whom Cadman must now work. In the midst of protests about anti-Muslim cartoons, Dhaka, Bangladesh's bustling capital, becomes an increasingly tense and dangerous place to be, so Cadman seeks haven in the foreigners' club. There he meets the enigmatic Jasmina, the Bangladeshi policewoman who beguiles him with her charm and baffles him with her forthright politics. But there is no escape for Cadman. Terrorism has followed him from London to South Asia, whilst colonialism seems never to have died in the luxurious foreigners' club of Bangladesh. He soon finds himself embroiled in an investigation that is a race against time. Can he identify the terrorists and their plot before tragedy strikes again? Each city scene, landscape and smell is described with flair and emotion creating a novel that will appeal to those with a passion for travel and exotic locations. The Jasmine Sari tells the story of a journey into radicalisation and terrorism and is illuminated with the insight of Tucker's counter-terrorism expertise. It will therefore appeal to readers of books such as John Updike's Terrorist. Meanwhile, the novel's revelation of the foreigners' club as the hub of the colonial elite, toxic and completely detached from the local population, is evocative of George Orwell's Burmese Days and Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter.