The Knock by Aujlaan Hamid  

The Knock by Aujlaan Hamid

The Knock: A Crime Mystery Novel

Author: Aujlaan Hamid

Publisher: Vyeth Publishing House

Genre: Crime Fiction / Mystery

Length: 313 pages

Reviewer: Adnan Nazir (adnannazir365@gmail.com)

There is something unsettling about a death that does not quite add up. A vehicle lies in a gorge, a young man is found dead, and a village accepts what appears to be an unfortunate accident. But what if the story is not as simple as it seems?

This is where Aujlaan Hamid’s The Knock, a crime mystery novel, begins.

Aujlaan Hamid is an advocate practicing at the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar. His professional engagement with the law brings an interesting dimension to his entry into crime fiction, a genre that often draws upon questions of evidence, motive and justice.

Set against the winter landscape of Kashmir, the novel opens at 6:30 on a December morning. Jaffer is woken by a knock on his door. The visitor brings news of the death of Rafiq, a young man from the village. What initially appears to be a road accident soon raises questions. Why had Rafiq travelled to Ronaal in such difficult weather? Why was his body found away from the vehicle? And what explains the small injury on his head?

These questions gradually take the story in a different direction.

Rather than making the investigation the work of a conventional police detective, Hamid brings together three characters, Jaffer, Aujlaan and Abrar, who approach the case from different angles. Their investigation takes them through personal relationships, old complaints, phone records, financial dealings and a series of concealed connections. As the story progresses, people who initially appear innocent come under suspicion, while some early assumptions have to be reconsidered.

One of the more interesting aspects of the novel is the way it uses an ordinary village setting for a fairly elaborate crime mystery. The winter landscape is not simply a backdrop. Snow-covered roads, familiar village houses, kangris and pherans give the narrative a recognisable Kashmiri atmosphere.

Aujlaan also understands the basic requirement of a mystery novel: the reader should have reasons to keep turning the pages. Almost every discovery leads to another question. A phone call opens up a new possibility; a seemingly insignificant detail becomes relevant later. The mystery expands from a suspected accident into something involving betrayal, money and a wider conspiracy. The author manages to keep several possibilities alive for much of the narrative.

The novel’s strongest quality is perhaps its willingness to build its mystery around trust. Rafiq’s tragedy is not merely that he meets a violent end, but that the people connected to his final journey are not necessarily the people he believed them to be. This gives the story an emotional dimension beyond the mechanics of solving a crime.

That said, The Knock is not without its frailties. At 313 pages, the novel occasionally takes bit longer to move its investigation forward. Some conversations repeat information that the reader has already understood. A little more restraint in these places would have made the storytelling tighter.

However, Aujlaan Hamid’s The Knock is an impressive addition to crime fiction. For readers who enjoy mysteries built around hidden relationships, unexpected turns and the gradual unravelling of a crime, the novel offers an interesting read. It also leaves behind a simple thought: sometimes, the truth is not hidden because nobody is looking. It remains hidden because the people closest to it have reasons not to speak.

About the Reviewer: The Reviewer is a Media & Communication Professional based in Srinagar. He may be mailed at adnannazir365@gmail.com