The Palace of Sinners and Saints is a brutally fun time for action readers who like their protagonist to be unabashedly awesome and badass. Ammar Merchant shows great talent in crafting powerful and feral action sequences that make a lasting impression, an impressive feat given that it’s his debut.
Irfan Mirza is a freelance operative who lends his violent and aggressive skillset to the cause of helping those in trouble. He was kidnapped as a child and indoctrinated into becoming a fearsome assassin who ultimately broke out of the mold to fight for the right reasons. When a despotic king in a Middle Eastern kingdom, known for suppressing his opponents by making them disappear, sets his sights on a woman, he is not aware that would be his undoing. For that woman is Irfan’s foster sister. Spiraling into a personal rampage, Irfan kicks off a mission to infiltrate a 12th-century Middle Eastern castle turned black-site prison with a small band of specialists. Never count Mirza out, especially as long as he breathes.
Irfan Mirza’s introduction goes down as one of the most smashing and captivating moments I’ve read. Suave and cool yet so feral and wild, it sets the tone for Mirza as a character. Merchant builds up the foundation for Mirza as a force to be reckoned with through showing us these character-making sequences as opposed to simply dropping anecdotes. It goes a long way in establishing this debut protagonist as one of the most compelling characters in the thrillerverse.
Merchant takes the road not taken by setting Irfan Mirza as a man hailing from Pakistan and a practicing Muslim. But these are far from brownie points to write a distinctive character. Ammar Merchant takes full advantage of this cultural shift in the genre to help flesh out Mirza as a complex and layered character who is flawed enough to actually exist yet has admirable qualities and principles from his culture that make him someone to root for, a gentleman in an ungentlemanly time.
There’s plenty of fuel in this action-packed ride with bike chases, hand to hand combat, shootouts, and after all, a full-blown infiltration into a castle with tons of explosions. However, my favorites have to be the bike chase being one heck of an adrenaline rush and all of the close quarters combat sequences where Irfan’s fighting style can only be described as that of a giant who simply tramples his opponents.
Ammar Merchant made an immediate impression on me with The Palace of Sinners and Saints that not only kept me energized with action but also made me crave to know more about Mirza’s past as well as what he’ll be up to next. This is an exciting thriller that stands on its own unique takes on the fundamentals of the genre and I can’t wait to read what Merchant follows this up with next.
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