A massive heads up to give about a book that I think is the best crime thriller I’ve read this year.
Not set with a cop as the main character, but with a pharmacist who is just trying to do the right thing.
Idris Khan is the “Chemist” a pharmacist on a tough council estate in Leeds. His chemist shop is where the locals go for their medicine, it’s also where the local drug addicts get their daily methadone treatment.
Khan is also the only pharmacist who the local drug lord allows into the Mews, a council estate of high rise flats.
Jahangir Hosseini is the drug lord. He runs the five flats and the houses around them. Nobody gets past his gatekeepers, nobody sells drugs unless they are his. But most importantly nobody ever leaves the estate to live elsewhere, because once he has you hooked on his drugs, he doesn’t want you to taking your trade anywhere else.
The rest of Leeds underworld is run by Thomas Mead and he has always wanted to run the Mews but can’t afford the damage a gang war would do.
Meanwhile a small time pimp is running prostitutes in Heaton, one of them, a fresh face is sent out on her first night. Her client attacks her but Liam says if he wants it rough, get him to pay extra. In desperation she turns to Rebecca, a councillor who works with street girls.
In a crazy turn of events Rebecca kills the client by stabbing him in the back. The client just happens to be Thomas Meads brother who has only just been released from prison.
In a panic Rebecca calls he ex husband, Idris Khan, for help.
And that is where the story really starts.
The more Khan helps the deeper the hole he is digging himself, Rebecca, and Amy the young prostitute
This is a compelling story of a man who is trying to help people. Drug addicts, prostitutes, people generally down on their luck, living in a terrible part of the country.
When that help takes him into the mews he is protected by the drug lord, but only their terms.
He has free range to move around in places the police daren’t go.
And in the words of some actor in a film I can’t remember the name of, he has skills. Not physical, he has a brain, and he has a pharmacy in a world where drugs are a daily necessity for most people.
This is the story of bad decisions and loyalties. The story of a man just trying to get along in life by helping others. When that help leads to trouble it comes from all directions. Two drug lords, the police and the community.
A cracking read from and unusual point of view, and I loved it.
Pages: 432. Publisher: HQ. Publishing date: 22/05/2025. Audiobook length 10 hours 14, Narrator TBC
nigeladamsbookworm 