Spotlight and Guest Post: A. X. Ahmad (The Caretaker): On Writing and Cooking

It's always exciting to discover a debut author who is quietly garnering high praise from print media and bloggers alike. A. X. Ahmad's The Caretaker is a literary thriller that doubles as a immigrant story.

Here is a quick summary of the premise. Ranjit Singh is an ex-captain in the Indian Army who has fled to the United States with his wife and daughter to escape his past. He is now working as the off-season caretaker for a senator on Martha's Vineyard. Plagued by hallucinations stemming from a traumatic event in his past and trying to cope with his wife's worsening depression, Ranjit is far removed from the America that's paved with gold.

When the furnace in his house goes out, Ranjit moves his family into the now-empty senator's house until he can see to the repairs. Unfortunately, the house is robbed, pulling the Singhs into a deadly game of political intrigue. Ranjit must evade the bad guys while figuring out what they think he knows, and at the same time, he must protect his family and hide his own misdoings.

When I first met A. X. Ahmad through e-mail, I learned that we shared something in common: a love of food and cooking. When talking about a possible guest post for Beth Fish Reads, Amin immediately suggested that he write about the role food plays in his fiction. A perfect match for me, my blog, and my readers! I hope you enjoy his post as much as I do.

On Writing and Cooking

I have a confession to make: I'm obsessed with novels that involve food and cooking. And until I wrote my first novel, I never really realized why.

Ranjit Singh, the protagonist of my debut novel, The Caretaker, knows how to cook only one Indian dish: khitchri, a mixture of spices, lentils, rice and vegetables.

He learns to make it in the Indian Army, where he cooks it high up in the mountains, in the midst of a war. When he moves to America and lives on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, he cooks it to feed his depressed wife and young daughter. Later on, when his world falls apart and he’s in hiding, he scrounges the ingredients and cooks it again, savoring every bite.

In the book, I describe, step by step, how Ranjit makes khitchri: meticulously sautéing the spices, then the onions, measuring out rice and lentils, adding hot water, and finally, potatoes and peas. If you, the reader, follow each step, you can probably cook it, too.

When I wrote the book, I wasn’t sure why I included all these details. Only later did I realize the connection between cooking and my character. Ranjit Singh is a poor illegal immigrant in a new country but is too proud to admit that he’s homesick for India. His wife deals with her alienation by losing herself in Indian movies, but Ranjit clings to his roots by making and remaking khitchri, the one dish that he knows.

Cooking reveals character. That was my revelation. As writers, we create characters by showing the choices that they make: and what is more fundamental than the way we choose to feed ourselves?

I’m writing this at my favorite coffee shop in Washington, D.C. I come here every day. As soon as I walk through the door, they start making my breakfast: a turkey-and-onion omelet with whole wheat toast. Strawberry jam on the side. No butter. I sit at my usual table, and eat while I write.

I wonder what that says about me.

I've just started Amin's debut novel, but I can tell you right now that I plan to give khitchri a try. Indian spices with perfectly cooked lentils and rice sounds like the ultimate comfort food. No wonder Ranjit craves it.

As for Amin's breakfast? I'm not sure what it says about him, but I think I'm going to have to ask for the name of that coffee shop next time I'm Washington, D.C.

Buy The Caretaker at an indie or other bookstore near you.
Minotaur Books, 2013
ISBN-13: 9781250016843
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Review: Collateral Damage by Stuart Woods

I've been meaning to read Stuart Woods's Stone Barrington books for a long time, but for some reason I never got around to them. When I had a chance to listen to the audiobook of the latest one, Collateral Damage, I took at as a sign and gave the book a try.

Collateral Damage is the 25th book in the Stone Barrington series. I'm not sure if it's typical of all of them, but I loved it so much I almost want to start the series from the beginning. The truth is, I'll probably just start here and look forward the next installment, which comes out later this spring.

I'm not an expert on mystery genres, but I'd call this a combination of detective novel and spy thriller. Stone Barrington is an ex-cop and a lawyer in New York City. I couldn't quite tell if Stone still practices law, though, because the story line didn't involve that kind of case. Regardless, he seems to be quite well off and lives in a large building right in the city, with an office on the first floor and living quarters on the floors above.

Stone's girlfriend, Holly Barker, is the assistant CIA director and is actively pursuing a case of terrorism involving a woman who has been bombing strategic offices and people in England and the United States. The high-action and tightly edited plot revolves around the capture and/or elimination of the terrorist and her accomplices.

Although it is clear that the main characters have a history, I quickly figured out their personalities and relationships. I'm sure the excellent narration by Tony Roberts helped in that regard. I thought he individualized the voices just enough to allow me to understand each person's idiosyncrasies without getting in the way of my being able to form my own opinions. Thus I soon connected with Stone and Holly and the people in their orbit.

However, I wish I had started the series with the book just before this one, Severe Clear, because the action in Collateral Damage begins a few weeks after the previous book, and the cases are clearly connected. Fortunately, Woods included enough background information to get me up to speed, so I wasn't lost.

I loved the energy of the book both in terms of the case (bombings, hidden cameras, competition among the security agencies, danger) and in terms of the relationships among the characters (friends, lovers, business colleagues). The behind-the-scenes look at the workings of international security was interesting and not overly technical. In fact, some of the gadgets used by both our heroes and the bad guys were everyday items.

My recommendation? Don't hold back--start reading Stuart Woods's Stone Barrington series tomorrow. If you don't want to go back to the beginning, pick up book 24, Severe Clear, so you can catch all of the most recent plot line. On the other hand, I loved the characters so much, I may read a few of the earlier installments so I can get to know them better.

As I mentioned, I listened to the unabridged audiobook (Penguin Audio, 7 hr, 23 min) read by Tony Roberts, who I think has narrated most if not all of the series. This is my first experience with Roberts, and I enjoyed his characterizations and appreciated his skill at projecting author Stuart Woods's well-crafted pacing. I'm already hooked on the audiobooks for this series.

Buy Collateral Damage at an Indie or at bookstore near you. This link leads to an affiliate program.
Penguin USA, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780399159862
Rating: B+
Source: Review--audio (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Review and Interview: A World I Never Made by James LePore

Review

Megan Nolan left her Vermont college after only a few weeks, running away to Europe to earn her living selling articles to American women's magazines. Learning how to become a journalist wasn't all that twelve years in Europe had taught Megan; she became an expert in manipulating rich men into becoming her sugar daddies, and she had the Swiss bank account to prove her success.

In the years after 9/11, Megan lost interest in writing fluff pieces and started engaging in serious research to learn more about the Muslim terrorist underground. When she met Abdel al-Lahani at a train station in Morocco, Megan felt as if she had hit the jackpot. Handsome, rich, and powerful, the Westernized Muslim could refresh her bank account while granting her access to important informants. Megan, who was always in control, had no reason to think that al-Lahani couldn't be played.

Just one year later, Pat Nolan, in a haze of shock and jet-lag, sat in a Paris police station reading his daughter's suicide note. The police were saying something about ovarian cancer, but Pat had no idea that Megan had been sick. When Detective Catherine Laurence pulled the sheet off the body, Pat gave a positive ID and asked that she be immediately cremated. But Pat Nolan had never seen the dead woman in his life.

A World I Never Made, is a fast-moving, double hide-and-seek game played out across two continents and involving police forces, terrorist groups, intelligence agencies, gypsies, and even the church. Westerners are sure Megan has been involved in recent terrorist attacks and hope to interrogate her; Muslim groups are sure she has sabotaged their plans and hope to kill her. Al-Lahani simply will not let a woman get the best of him.

From the false suicide note to a fortune-teller's prediction and a cryptic message from a young flower vendor, Pat is sure that he will be able to discover the fate of his daughter, if he can only find the clues, follow the trail, and stay alive. With the help of Detective Laurence, Pat begins his frantic search for the daughter he barely knows.

LePore has created a many-layered political thriller set within the world of Mideast terrorism. Although a few aspects of the plot were predictable, the overall arc of the story was not. The ending felt a bit rushed, but not enough to spoil the novel.

The descriptions of the people and places were vivid and believable. It is interesting that Megan Nolan, the central character of the novel, is an enigma—we aren't sure if we should hate her or pray for safety. Her father is no more transparent. Catherine Laurence, though, is somewhat disappointing. She is an experienced police detective; however, she makes several serious blunders that don't seem to ring true. In a couple of cases, I wondered why those actions were not made by Pat or another nonprofessional.

I recommend A World I Never Made as a promising debut novel. (Note: I read an ARC, and changes may have been made before publication.) LePore is already working on a second book.

Three Questions for James LePore

BFR: At first I was impressed that you had made several of the officers and investigators in the book women. But then I started thinking about the women in the novel, and I realized that not very many of them are warm and caring individuals. And several characters are motherless. Were you aware that you had mothers die young and that, except for Catherine, most of the women seem to have a low opinion of men or are just simply not nice (like Lalla)?

JP: I set out to make Megan not likable, but with the potential to be a true heroine, which I think/hope she proved to be at the end. Lalla I wanted to come across as a zealous accomplice to terror, a true believer who would do anything for Lahani and her husband. There was no intent to put the women in the story into any particular category. Genevieve LeGrand gave in to vanity but stood tall when she had to. Charles Raimondi was a true jerk. I see people’s flaws as not related to their gender but to their humanity.

BFR: From the flower seller we meet early in the novel to Annabella Jeritza, Francois Duval, and even the church, fate, fortune-telling, second sight, and miracles all play a part in the book. Are you a believer in fortune-telling and miracles?

JP: I believe that there is a higher power that plays a role in shaping our destinies that takes many forms, some obscure, some obvious. And yes, I do believe in miracles. You and I are miracles. A tree is a miracle. We take miracles for granted because we see them every day, but that doesn’t make them less miraculous.

BFR: You make references to several well-known terrorist attacks that have taken place in recent history. Is this novel meant to be your interpretation of the people behind those events or have you simply used history as a frame for your book?

JP: The answer is both. We’ll never know who exactly was behind many of the terrorist attacks that have taken place over the last 30 or so years. There has been mention of the Al Haramain Brigade and Salafist Jihad in connection with the bombings in Casablanca in 2003 and other attacks. Nineteen of the 21 9/11 terrorists were Saudi Arabian. I used history as a frame for fiction, but I tried to keep it close to the factual record so that the reader could identify the events of the novel with his or her understanding of world events.

A World I Never Made at an Indie

A World I Never Made at Powell's
A World I Never Made at Amazon

Published by The Story Plant, 2009
ISBN-13: 9780981608723
Challenges: A-Z Author, 100+, 999
YTD: 52
Rating: B-

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