A burnt out New York cop; an eighty-year-old Parsi sitting in a decaying Karachi mansion; a hit man whose days are numbered; a journalist who dreams of the big time.

When a Jewish woman is killed on the steps of the Natural History Museum in New York, disparate lives are thrown together for one purpose: to bring about the downfall of the Don, the uncrowned king of Karachi.

The Party Worker explores the Machiavellian politics of Pakistan's busiest city, where friends come bearing bullets and enemies can wait patiently for decades before striking.

Gritty, disturbing and compelling, this is Omar Shahid Hamid at his best.

Praise for Omar Shahid Hamid

‘I strongly suggest that Western policy makers read The Prisoner before they next call for a military “crackdown” on Islamist militancy in Pakistan’ New York Review of Books

‘An exhilarating crime novel … Hamid’s portrayal of the city, the police and the byzantine political play is nuanced and sophisticated’ NPR