Review of Omar Hamid's "The Party Worker"

Police officer Guddu, the protagonist of Shahid Hamid's latest novel, "The Party Worker", is pissed off and wants to take the "Don" down because he had him transferred to Gilgit, for fifteen long years. This is definitely not the only reason, but it is one of the important reasons.

By emphasizing on the officer's anger at being transferred to Gilgit, the most beautiful part of Pakistan, the writer makes my region look like some sort of a hell, where people are sent for punishment. A modern-day Kala Pani :)
The fact is that federal or provincial officers posted to Gilgit get special pays and allowances, and they use their influence to get themselves transferred to the mountainous region.

Yes. The above observation is personal. 😀 I felt bad because Gilgit-Baltistan is nothing less than heaven, minus the extreme cold winters, and the sporadic spiraling out of "sectarian violence". 

Coming back to the book. 

The novel has many similarities, including characters, with 'the prisoner', Hamid's first novel. 

It is a racy cop-tale, involving politics, crime, conspiracy, violence, love, hate and revenge. 

Dissent and intrigue lead to the crumbling of the rein of terror holding Karachi hostage for decades. 

The minus-don (and his closest cult) formula seems to be at work, behind the scene. 

The Don is the anti-Christ who gets fixed in the end. The policewalah wins, following an elaborate and grand scheme, with the help of very common people, including an old Parsi and a beautiful, fragile, girl, both burning in the fire of vengeance for their own causes. 

A character from Hyderabad has been presented as a backstabber in search of power. 

The rein of terror is not completely obliterated, though. Lesser devils (corrupts) replace the old order. Obliteration is not the purpose. The ultimate goal is replacement. 

All of this seems highly contemporary. Events appear to have been inspired from real ones, albeit presented differently, with subtle, yet telling, changes.

A good read, in the end. 

I was able to read it in a day.