Salman Shaheen ‘Freebourne’ – Review

Salman Shaheen; Freebourne

Debut thriller from Salman Shaheen perfect holiday reading

Salman Shaheen’s novel Freebourne is a thriller that’s a bit different to the run of the mill who-done-it.

Winter, somewhere in middle England – a man arrives in a rural town where no one knows him, in order to start a new life. As he makes his way from the railway station through the snow he comes across the body of a young woman half-buried in a snowdrift.

He does his citizenly duty and calls the police, and of course he is immediately he is a suspect, and of course the whole town immediately knows it. So far so normal.

What is not normal or run of the mill is that this is set a few years into the future and there is a sci-fi element to it which makes it a bit different. Normally I am not one for sci-fi, but this is not green monsters dripping slime sci-fi, it is intelligence-led sci-fi and the alarming strides being made by AI make it utterly believeable.

Salman’s central character Harry attracts our sympathy. For him, going into the local pub in Freebourne is like the scene in An American Werewolf in London where the two young travellers go into a pub in the middle of the Yorkshire moors and the entire pub turns to stare at them in hostility.

Harry is a nice bloke. His instincts are to be honest and open. The odd person who is prepared to risk any kind of relationship with him finds him quite amenable, while other, better suspects materialise out of the woodwork and the author lays a smörgåsbord of trails to follow.

The ending? Not so much a twist as the Collosus at Thorpe Park.

Salman Shaheen signing books at the Launch at ANIMA in Brentford, and with ANIMA founder Ambika Grewal

“A dream come true to see my debut novel become a reality at long last”

The author is the Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Public Spaces on Hounslow Council, and a councillor for Isleworth. Salman is a journalist who has written for the Guardian, New Statesman, New Internationalist, and Times of India, and frequently comments on politics and economics on TV and radio.

The book got off to a good start when it went straight into the Amazon bestseller list.

READ ALSO: Hounslow councillor Salman Shaheen’s debut thriller goes straight into Amazon bestseller list

At the book launch at the end of October at ANIMA in Brentford, he said:

“It really was a dream come true to see my debut novel become a reality at long last… Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered it, and who bought it on the night, and helped make it a success. I hope you’ll have as much fun coming to the twist as I had writing it.”

Freebourne is available to buy on Amazon and in local bookshops ANIMA in Brentford and Hewson Books in Kew and Sheen:

Amazon.co.uk/Freebourne

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