Red Laal

'Another gangster with all the presence of a ghost.

Just stories you hear over the years. Heavyweight. King shit. Bad arse. Red Laal - If there did exist a Pakistani Don Corleone, then this was him.' Kilo has fallen down the rungs of the criminal ladder and is once again reduced to dealing small time.

Just when he realises he has to make a clean break and get out, along comes Red Laal with other ideas.

Unnerved by the revelation of a long-held family secret and seduced by Red Laal's charms, Kilo is quickly lured back into the criminal fold.

But a trail of blood and betrayal leads him back to his ancestral village where he learns that not everything is what it seems.

Soon Red Laal will discover what Kilo is prepared to do in the name of justice and revenge. M Y Alam's novel is a compelling tale of survival, honour and family values; it is at once a page-turning thriller and homage to his home city of Bradford.

In Kilo and Red Laal, Alam has created characters beyond compare in contemporary British fiction.