The Demands
Mulholland Books, 2012, 416 Pages
ISBN No. 978-0-316-12663-2
Reviewed by Patricia Reid
We are all creatures of habit, and Helen Weeks is no exception. Helen, a detective for the police department and a single mother, stops at a newsagent every morning for her newspaper, gum and some candy. As Helen is paying for her items three boys walk into the shop wrestling with each other and messing with the stock. Javed Akhtar, the owner, chases the boys out of the shop. Helen and the man behind her in the store are shocked when Akhtar locks the door to the shop and pulls a gun on his two customers.
So begins a situation that is terrifying to the hostages as well as the police attempting to see them released without harm. The hostages are handcuffed to the radiator. Stephen Mitchell, the other customer taken hostage, seems to think that Helen can use her familiarity with Akhtar and her skills as a detective to miraculously rescue them from the situation. But he soon realizes she has no power over Akhtar.
Akhtar orders Helen to get in touch with a detective named Thorne. Helen knows Thorne since she dealt with him when her boyfriend was killed. Helen learns Akhtar’s son, Amin Akhtar, was involved in a manslaughter case and sentenced to prison. Amin killed himself in Barndale Young Offenders Institution eight weeks earlier. Thorne is familiar with the manslaughter case and had been surprised the boy got the stiff sentence that he did.
Akhtar does not believe that his son’s death was a suicide and he is demanding that Thorne find out what really happened. Thorne is racing against time in his investigation into the boy’s death. Two people’s lives are at stake and it is up to him to save them. But first he must satisfy all of Akhtar’s questions and prove that his son was murdered.
As Thorne investigates, he finds more and more puzzling things about the conviction and the boy’s death – some that will come as a shock to Akhtar. The story switches back and forth between Thorne who is seeking answers on the outside and Helen Weeks who is one
of the hostages. It is a race against time as the police outside the newsagent’s shop try to determine whether to go in with force or hope Thorne comes up with answers.
Mark Billingham introduced Sgt. Helen Weeks in the novel In the Dark. The Demands bring Weeks and Thorne together and this reader hopes for more adventures involving Weeks and Thorne.
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