The Opium Prince

Writer draws reader into the Afghan layered world in the 1970s.
Daniel is used to introduce us to elite, powerful Afghan
citizens,writers, government negotiators, professionals in medicine, journalism, loyal servants, street urchins, opium lords, nomad parents, aide agencies, and vulnerable trafficked children.
Author weaves all these layers and adds in despot rulers vying for power with authoritarian invaders, religious leaders, and the brutal
grasp of opium trade. Outstanding!

A fantastic, engrossing journey into the mind of a man torn apart by a fateful decision. Aimaq is a talented writer and storyteller whose evocative prose and knack for dialogue make this first novel hard to put down.

This may have been published as a crime novel, but it is so much more. Jasmine Aimaqs debut novel is mystery and historical fiction about international relations. When Afghan-born American diplomat is posted to Kabul in 1970 to head the poppy eradication program, he finds himself enmeshed in a nightmare after killing a young girl when she ran in front of his car. When trying to make reparations for her death, he meets an opium kingpin, Taj Makeki who uses Daniels guilt to blackmail him. Tensions between the communists and the Islamic fundamentalists grow and their lives are thrown into danger. Its also a glimpse into the complicated Afghan political and cultural situation. And one thing the reader learns is that there really are no good guys in white hats. People often wear both hats. I was surprised at the humor in the book, its not a humorous subject portrayed in this page turner.

In this knockout debut novel, Jasmine Aimaq takes on the fraught, complicated world of Afghanistan in the 1970s. A coup in 1973 had left the country seemingly stable: it looked like the country might experience a new Golden Age. But tensions were already building, not hard to see if you looked for them: the mullahs on one side, Communists on the other. In 1978, a brutal Communist coup spelled bye bye to any Golden Age for this poor, distressed country. (A decade and a half later, it would be the Taliban).

Prince is set in and around Kabul in 1977 and 1978, pre- and post-coup. Goodwilled but clueless Americans are falling over each other in their desire to help the Afghanis, whether they want it or not. Its not one but two stories, rushing towards a common conclusion. One is the tale of Daniel Sajani, half-Afghan, half-American, who heads a U.S. agency dedicated to eradicating the poppy by persuading farmers to plant alternate crops. The other is about a menacing opium lord named Taj Malecki. Hes a monster but how did he come to be what he is and what is it like to be inside his head? For most of the book, theyre adversaries, Taj Daniels nemesis, a definite threat to his safety and wellbeing. But at the very end, its Taj who will save Daniel. A good deal happens in this book, some of it horrific, but this isnt a rush to a conclusion book, bam bam bam. Its subtle and insidious. Its ultimately a book about forced choices, when something bad happens and your only path forward is another wrong, one leading to another, all of your choices compromising and debasing you.

The book starts with a bang. Daniel is driving on the road from Kabul to Herat. He hits and kills a young Kochi girl, member of an ancient nomad tribe, who appears on the road without warning. Daniel does the right thing: instead of fleeing no one had seen him except his wife, whos in the car with him, and it would be hard to argue hes at fault, since she appeared out of nowhere– — he picks up the dead girl and carries her body back to the Kochi camp, not knowing what vengeance her strange tribe will wreak on him. From that point on, everything goes wrong but its like a slow bleeding, not a cut throat. An outsider to the tribe, named Taj Malecki, intervenes, protects Daniel. All Daniel has to do is pay a blood price for the girl, and its a pittance. (Part of the reason is that the Afghani government sees the Kochi as non-people.) Taj exacts a price for his intervention and Daniel resists. Taj ratchets up the pressure. Youve left me no choice, Taj says when Daniel refuses his request. If one cannot appeal to a mans honor, one must move on to his fear.

Eventually, Daniel gives in and thats when the rot sets in. Soon Daniels marriage is in trouble and hes disgraced at his job, instead of running his office demoted to unnecessary desk work. By the end of the book, its not only Daniel whos imperiled. The ending is explosive and its aftermath sad. The Opium Prince is a fascinating story, driven by the contrasting histories of its protagonists and enriched with a wealth of well-rendered, full fleshed secondary characters. The ambience is a player too.
Ive just begun to hint how rich this book is.

What is real, and what is illusion? How much control does one really have over their own destiny? Who really holds power? How do we decide which thing is the lesser of two evils?

Those are the main questions I took from this novel, set in Afghanistan in the 1970s, where Daniel Sayedi tries to live up to the standard he believed his own father had, through the hate of the opium grown from one of the many poppy fields in the country. He now works for the US government on a project that will destroy poppy fields and replace them with crops like corn and wheat. He believes strongly in what he does, and then on an anniversary trip with his wife, he strikes a young Kochi girl with his car, killing her, and ends up being blackmailed by a powerful opium khan.

I loved the descriptions of the landscapes in this novel. The was city life in Kabul at the time was described was fascinating. Once the story was rolling, I was intrigued and wanted to keep reading to see what would happen.

However, I never truly clicked with the main character, Daniel. There were some choices of his I never could quite comprehend and think that maybe a little more background information at the time would have helped.

This is definitely a book that readers who enjoy books set in this region will enjoy, and to you I recommend it.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for making this book available for me to share my opinions on.

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