This book was everything I hoped it would it be.
I was hooked quickly and completely unwilling to put this down. I devoured this book in just one sitting. I have no regrets and can’t wait to read more by this author.

As usual in my reviews I will not rehash the plot (there are reviews like that out there already if that's what you're looking for!).

I enjoyed this novel (there are a few grim scenes), and was quite surprised at how well it worked, given that there are two authors (brother and sister). The writing is good, and descriptions of the settings are very vivid, so that you can clearly picture the scene, hear the noise, feel the heat, the dust etc. I have since learned that one of the authors served in the military and was actually based in Afghanistan several times in different roles, which explains the authenticity.

The plot is fast-paced and action-packed - having read some of the real events that took place in Kabul during that period, I felt it was very believable.

I liked the main characters of Mac and Baz - Baz's dual nationality added an interesting dimension (though also brought her some problems as she fell foul of not fitting in with local expectations of how a woman should behave). They are very different personalities, but their partnership worked, and I'd be happy to read more novels featuring this duo.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Exciting read. Dark thriller that had you hooked from the off. The book was very well written. Great plot. Very exciting. Fast paced to get your heart racing. Loved this book. A topic that’s very in the news recently. It made it all the more believable and chilling.

A brilliant book.
This story is everything Follet’s Never should have been.
A story that can only have been set in a City ravaged by war and insurgence.
A group of people, from all over the world, working in a ravaged city
A British soldier murdered
Artefacts being illegally smuggled out of the country
A Chinese bar, used for gambling and prostitution
The ingredients for a brilliant story
Brilliant

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC in return for an unbiased review.
I enjoyed this book and found the storyline interesting and set me thinking.
Well written with a decent storyline and kept me interested and curious for more all the way through to the end.
Recommended.

Took me a while to get into this and I kept restarting and stopping mainly because of the location. Once in it was a good story of intrigue, smuggling and struggles in a war torn area - Kabul. The descriptions of the sights, sounds and smells of the town seemed all too real; the story of a dead serviceman who had another life, of locals smuggling artifacts out of the country and the young journalist trying to stop this had enough in it to then keep me going. I did find the journalist a bit of a pain, naive, railing against male attitudes and having to wear the hijab when outside - she might be American but her parents were Afghanis and she should have appreciated the traditional, if unwanted, lifestyle back home. An ok read in the end if mainly for the atmosphere, Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Death in Kabul by A. Balsham and N. Higgns.
The MacKenzie and Khan series Book 1.
2003. Kabul has become a frontier city, Afghanistan’s fledgling democracy struggling with crime and corruption as NATO coalition troops, gangs and warlords jostle for control. A city where justice is an ideal and security means carrying a gun.
Good read with good characters. 4*.

law-enforcement, action-adventure, Afghanistan, adversity, ex-cop, ex-military, journalist, antiquities-trade, murder-investigation, theft, thriller, mercenaries*****

Former Met homicide cop in London Mac is now working with a mercenary company in Afghanistan when he gets tagged to work with Kabul police to investigate the murder of a British man in uniform. Things in Kabul are worlds different from the tidy compartmentalized workings of Scotland Yard and it gets positively insane when the British army gets involved and tries to take over. But it's not their jurisdiction. And Mac is only there to assist.
Baz Khan is an investigative journalist whose father had been curator of the Kabul Museum which has been bleeding artifacts in recent times. Her work is more than difficult because she was born in the US but has to conform to Afghani norms in public.
Mac and friends cross paths with Baz when it turns out that the murder victim was in the antiquities trade! Great realistic characters and likely events.
Fast paced thriller set in a world apart. Loved it!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Canelo via NetGalley. Thank you!

Book 1 of a new series finds us meeting ‘Mac’, ex Met Police, and Baz Khan, journo, both in Kabul and both on the. trail of the killers of a British serviceman recently found murdered..their task is to find out who, why, when and how…but this is Kabul and nothing is easy
You can tell one of the authors ( bro and sis combo ) worked in Afghanistan and it is so authentic and so full of detail ( cultural, religious ) and history it couldn’t have been written by someone who had no experience of that life, and its fascinating, honestly I couldn’t read enough about Kabul and take in the sights, sounds and smells ( although some to be avoided ) quick enough, uncanny how a book can transport you to somewhere you have never been and you feel you are there
The story itself is good, well structured and easy to follow ( and it could have been over complex ) and brimming with real life characters, we had time to meet them all properly and get to know their quirks and ways
I guess I felt sad knowing this was written in the time the Taliban were defeated and life was resuming as normal (well as normal as it does there) but now of course the Taliban are back in charge and so that was poignant throughout
Roll on Book 2

10/10
5 Stars

Entertaining 'boy's own' type yarn. NGO staff, mercenaries, smuggling of priceless antiques from a war zone - mixed together into page-turning thriller. Good sense of location, and danger.

With thanks to NetGalley and Canelo Action for an ARC

An easy read with what I imagine is an accurate depiction of pre US withdrawal in Kabul. A soldier is murdered. Mac is seconded to the Kabul police to investigate. Meanwhile, a scholar's daughter endangers her life looking for a valuable artefact. This is one to buy in the supermarket, read on holiday and quickly forget like an episode of The Professionals. The pro is: it's easy to read. The con is: people who like this kind of stuff have almost certainly read something very like it before. The book achieves what it sets out to achieve – with a low literary bar.