Nicki`s Life of Crime : BLOGTOUR, BOOK REVIEW - I KNow What I Saw by Imran Mahmood

BOOK DESCRIPTION

I saw it. He smothered her, pressing his hands on her face. The police don't believe me, they say it's impossible – but I know what I saw.

Xander Shute - once a wealthy banker, now living on the streets - shelters for the night in an empty Mayfair flat. When he hears the occupants returning home, he scrambles to hide. Trapped in his hiding place, he hears the couple argue, and he soon finds himself witnessing a vicious murder.

But who was the dead woman, who the police later tell him can't have been there? And why is the man Xander saw her with evading justice?

As Xander searches for answers, his memory of the crime comes under scrutiny, forcing him to confront his long-buried past and the stories he's told about himself.

How much he is willing to risk to understand the brutal truth?

Thirty years had passed since Xander Shute had walked away from his life as a successful banker and swapped a life of wealth and luxury for the life of a homeless person on the streets of London. A life of scavenging for food, making sure you didn't wander into the wrong area or onto another homeless person's patch and finding somewhere safe to spend the night. Xander had spent so long on the streets that he had constructed a virtual map of the different zones inside his head that he walked through and planned his routes. Life as a homeless person is fraught with danger and unpredictable but Xander loved the sense of freedom that it gave him, the smell of the soil and mother nature around him when he went to sleep at night. But when he decides to spent the night in a unlocked house it is the catalyst for him being plunged into a living nightmare after he witnesses a murder.

Xander is certain that he had witnessed a crime but when he tries to tell the police what he saw, they refuse to believe him. Then Xander's is horrified when he suddenly finds himself under investigation and informed that he is suspected of committing a murder. The freedom that he treasures is under threat of being taken away from him for a very long time. The truth lies somewhere within Xander's scrambled memories and his version of events from his past.

The brain is a complex organ, where there memories and secrets buried within Xander's brain that it had blocked to protect him from the truth? What will happen to him when the brutal truth is finally revealed?

This captivating story that is set predominantly in the present day was narrated entirely from the perspective of Xander, a complex and very often difficult to like character for various reasons. It wasn't difficult to understand why he had built up such a hard exterior as protection against the things that he had to deal with living on the streets. Homelessness can happen to anyone, they say that we are all just one paycheck away from losing our homes and there are many reasons why a person can find themselves living on the streets. And yet many people view the homeless as the scum of the earth and look down on them in disgust and revulsion. I did feel a bit of sympathy for Xander during his interactions with obnoxious DI Conway but was I right in feel ing that way or was Xander not as innocent as he appeared to be? Why was he so certain that he had witnessed a crime despite the police insisting that there was no evidence that a murder has been committed? By had he suddenly swapped his life of luxury for a life on the streets?

The story very often slipped back into the past and took readers through events from Xander's past including his interactions and volatile relationships with his father, brother Rory and girlfriend Grace. These parts of the story gave the reader a insight into Xander's character and behaviour before he started living on the streets but how did events from the past fit into what was happening in the present day?

Wow, this is a extremely well written, thought provoking tale of deception, the inequality of society, judgement, control and the fallibility of human memories that had me hooked in from the first page and frantically turning the pages. It's a gripping, addictive read that had a cast of realistic, vivid characters, numerous twists and turns, red herrings and a unexpected chilling conclusion. I loved this absolutely brilliant, unputdownable thriller and would give it far more than five stars if I could. Very very highly recommended and definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of this year.

AUTHOR BIO

Imran is a practicing barrister with almost 30 years' experience fighting cases in court. He hails from Liverpool but now lives in London with his wife and daughters. His debut novel You Don't Know Me was chosen by Simon Mayo as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice for 2017 and longlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and for the CWA Gold Dagger, and is currently being adapted for screen in four parts. When not in court or writing novels he can sometimes be found on the Red Hot Chilli Writers' podcast as one of the regular contributors.

@imranmahmood777