What do you think?
Rate this book
The Warehouse
In a war zone, a man battles alone.
When a warehouse burns down in Waziristan, Cash, an insurance investigator based in Karachi, is asked to survey the damage. Drawn in by the deadly charm of his ex-lover Sonia, and the enormous paycheck that will allow him to fulfil promises to his aged mother and teenage daughter, Cash takes on what he knows will be a dangerous assignment.
Caught amid the power struggle between the Pakistani army, private security forces and the Taliban, Cash is witness to murders and foul play as he tries desperately to close the investigation and return to his family. But in the rock-strewn desolation of the tribal badlands, where religion, society and even humanity seem compromised, there is peril every step of the way...
Taut and gripping, The Warehouse is a thriller for our war-torn times; a reminder of what it means to be a mute pawn in the great game of life and death.
When a warehouse burns down in Waziristan, Cash, an insurance investigator based in Karachi, is asked to survey the damage. Drawn in by the deadly charm of his ex-lover Sonia, and the enormous paycheck that will allow him to fulfil promises to his aged mother and teenage daughter, Cash takes on what he knows will be a dangerous assignment.
Caught amid the power struggle between the Pakistani army, private security forces and the Taliban, Cash is witness to murders and foul play as he tries desperately to close the investigation and return to his family. But in the rock-strewn desolation of the tribal badlands, where religion, society and even humanity seem compromised, there is peril every step of the way...
Taut and gripping, The Warehouse is a thriller for our war-torn times; a reminder of what it means to be a mute pawn in the great game of life and death.
256 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2016
About the author
S.S. Mausoof
1 book7 followersS.S. Mausoof grew up in Karachi and currently lives in San Francisco. He has written several screenplays and has multiple IMDB credits, including an award-winning thriller shot in Karachi called Kala Pul – The Black Bridge. His short stories have been published in several periodicals including the South Asian Review Creative Writing Issue.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 5, 2017
In noir thrillers, the hero often experiences a series of unpleasant events. In noir thrillers set in Waziristan the hero gets done over in so many exotic and deeply unpleasant ways that you just need to doff your hat to the author. A very enjoyable take on the genre.
July 14, 2016
Takes one of the world's most violent places, an unconventional protagonist and spins an engrossing story of agendas and motivations far divorced from what we read in the headlines..
May 17, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. S. S. Mausoof's protagonist is both guide and pawn, leading the reader deep into a world that most westerners little or no conception of. With building tension that kept me up late at night past my normal bedtime, I tore through this book, wondering how the flawed actors could hope to survive in a part of the world known more for war than compassion. I look forward to future works.
August 9, 2020
The Warehouse from SS Mausoof, started with a lot of promise, backed up by very good noir writing, which I believe is scarce in my side of the world. Writers choice of words were quite refreshing in almost all scenes the background, the location description, the emotional scenes, the action scenes or even romance for that matter. You could tell lot of thoughts went to those sentences to make it hard hitting and viscerally convincing.
The story's starts with Qais (cash) who is a insurance investigator accepting to settle a burned warehouse claim, in a dangerous location, as a favor to his ex-lover working for insurance company. Qais sensing some quick bucks to be made treads the dangerous path to Waziristan a Taliban controlled area to discover the claim falsely attributed to fire mishap while it was in-fact a drone attack. While Qais tactically settles the claim as his employer wanted him to do, he is unwittingly caught in between the clutches of power hungry Taliban and money hungry Pakistan army.
Although promising as it sounds, the Warehouse plays a very little role in this book, except for drawing Qais out of his hometown to a different land. I was looking forward to a conspiracy constructed around the whole thing, and it acting as a mainstay. But the author chose a different path, by pin balling the protagonist form one cult to another, while giving the picture of internal affairs and functioning of different organisation thus influencing the transition he undergoes as man, as father, lover and as human in general.
Its possible that my expectation were wrong from the beginning, but the narrative stretches long and mundane as we see Qais moved from one place to another, with new characters adding in at every turn of page.
Brilliant writing with an original protagonist, let down by a expansive plot, that drifts far from a tight knit thriller.
The story's starts with Qais (cash) who is a insurance investigator accepting to settle a burned warehouse claim, in a dangerous location, as a favor to his ex-lover working for insurance company. Qais sensing some quick bucks to be made treads the dangerous path to Waziristan a Taliban controlled area to discover the claim falsely attributed to fire mishap while it was in-fact a drone attack. While Qais tactically settles the claim as his employer wanted him to do, he is unwittingly caught in between the clutches of power hungry Taliban and money hungry Pakistan army.
Although promising as it sounds, the Warehouse plays a very little role in this book, except for drawing Qais out of his hometown to a different land. I was looking forward to a conspiracy constructed around the whole thing, and it acting as a mainstay. But the author chose a different path, by pin balling the protagonist form one cult to another, while giving the picture of internal affairs and functioning of different organisation thus influencing the transition he undergoes as man, as father, lover and as human in general.
Its possible that my expectation were wrong from the beginning, but the narrative stretches long and mundane as we see Qais moved from one place to another, with new characters adding in at every turn of page.
Brilliant writing with an original protagonist, let down by a expansive plot, that drifts far from a tight knit thriller.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews