Karachi Vice: Life and Death in a Contested City

by Samira Shackle

Karachi. The capital of Pakistan is a sprawling mega-city of 20 million people. It is a place of political turbulence in which those who have power wield it with brutal and partisan force, a place in which it pays to have friends in the right places and to avoid making deadly enemies. It is a society where lavish wealth and absolute poverty live side by side, and where the lines between idealism and corruption can quickly blur. It takes an insider to know where is safe, who to trust, and what makes Karachi tick, and in this powerful debut, Samira Shackle explores the city of her mother's birth in the company of a handful of Karachiites. Among them is Safdar the ambulance driver, who knows the city's streets and shortcuts intimately and will stop at nothing to help his fellow citizens. There is Parveen, the activist whose outspoken views on injustice corruption repeatedly lead her towards danger. And there is Zille, the hardened journalist whose commitment to getting the best scoops puts him at increasing risk. As their individual experiences unfold, so Shackle tells the bigger story of Karachi over the past decade: a period in which the Taliban arrive in Pakistan, adding to the daily perils for its residents and pushing their city into the international spotlight. Writing with intimate local knowledge and a global perspective, Shackle paints a nuanced and vivid portrait of one of the most complex, most compelling cities in the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Pakistan, True Crime, Travel, Politics, Crime, Asia

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2021

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samira Shackle, journalist and editor, presents an eye opening, astonishingly intimate, inside picture of Karachi, a city of the displaced and migrants, with a mind boggling population of 20 million. It begins with a timeline of Pakistan's deadly and volatile political history and crises, a background that becomes all too viscerally and vividly alive through 5 diverse and ordinary citizens of Karachi, although some names have been changed. It is these inhabitants that are the inspiring stars and beating heart of this book, they humanise the stories we have heard on the news, a tribute to the endurance of the human spirit in the face of the worst of humanity, helping to make life more bearable in creating caring, courageous and kind communities.

We are introduced to the five in some depth, all from poor families, Safdar is the Edhi Charitable Foundation's low paid ambulance driver who is not afraid of driving into danger, picking up patients and corpses, working incredibly long hours, a man for whom his job is his vocation, driven to alleviate suffering endured by poor families like his, they were forced to wait long waits outside hospitals to return home after operations his polio suffering brother, Adil, had to undergo. Parveen is the incredible activist and street school teacher, she is unafraid of taking on gangsters and militias, campaigning against child marriages for girls, domestic violence and the abductions and disappearances of activists in Balochistan. Siraj is the obsessive and determined map maker of water resources, a target for attack by those intent on controlling the supply of water. Jannat is a traditional married woman, married at 16, living in a village facing and fighting land grabbing developers. Zille is a crime reporter, addicted to the dangers and high risks of his profession that relies on his contacts.

All operate in a climate where justice is a pipe dream with the police and judicial corruption, you need money, power and connections to make any headway in a system where more often there is nothing to differentiate the criminals and gangsters from the political parties and politicians. Our five face intimidation and threats, extortion, running gunfights and gang wars, drug dealers, a corrupt politics and the emergence of deadly terrorist attacks as the Taliban and other extremists flood into the country after the US invaded Afghanistan. Through Safdar, Parveen, Siraj, Jannat and Zille, we are given remarkable insights into the complexities of Karachi, its culture, communities, its traditions, attitudes and societal norms when it comes to women, the different religious factions, the many political parties, and where if you are poor and powerless, everyday is a battle for survival. On a personal level, I was particularly blown away by the wonderful Safdar and Parveen.

If you are interested in understanding the complexities of Karachi, the power structures, divisions, its vibrant and colourful communities and people, then this book is a must read, although it did make me want to weep and simultaneously rage at a Pakistani political system that is clearly failing the majority of its people and in providing any viable sense of security. Many thanks to Granta Publications for an ARC.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing but way too short - this is currently available for free as an audiobook on BBC sounds and I would highly recommend.

[Mainlinebooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since it is unlikely that I will travel to Pakistan in my lifetime, reading Shackle's novel was a mesmerizing experience. The book centers around 5 individuals with a deep love of their city and who have learned to manuever emotionally and physically through a city that roars danger. Rather than a dry narrative of the history of the city we are introduced to its inner workings from 2015-2019 through her detached nonjudgmental view of peoples' lives. With no indoor plumbing, people are hired to take away buckets of human waste from windows. Electricity often goes off several times a day even in the best of neighborhoods. Water is a scarce commodity and water tankers that deliver to villagers are often controlled by the mafia who can collect a higher price by selling to someone else, leaving their fellow neighbors bearing the results of their greed. Criminals abound in the city but crime and politics are so intertwined with feeders being symbiotic rather than parasitic. Our flawed government feels angelic compared to what the Karachi people endure. It made me think about Saddam Hussein's regime being toppled. Despite its criminality and abuse, his tightly controlled regime held the country together. When the downfall came, chaos ensued. Perhaps these mafia like people provide "structure" ( false as it may be) as it appears that the politicians aren't adept at implementing .
Through the 5 people's various stories we learn how people adapt and live despite the desperate situations they find themselves in. I also learned more about the power structures and customs that hindered men and women from reaching lofty heights; where scarcity and dysfunction dictate the rules -life and health did not have as much value.
In the beginning, there is an explanation of the various political parties. I would suggest writing them down and referring to them throughout the book as it was difficult to keep the names, acronyms and ethnic affiliations from becoming muddled. This book is so much more..I haven't even touched on the lives that this book is centered around..Time to find out for yourself!

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars!

This is a collection of dark, brutal and sometimes inspiring tales from Pakistan’s biggest city, a heaving metropolis of around 20 million souls. In the initial stages it put me a little in mind of “City of Lies” a similar type of book which focused on true stories from Tehran.

We see that Karachi is a place where all too often politics, religion, corruption and crime are inextricably linked. A violent, conservative and unpredictable part of the world, where in 2013 alone it recorded 3,000 murders, apparently more than any other city in the world.

This started well enough, but then I thought it ran out of steam around the 100 page mark, and it seemed to get trapped in a loop and I lost interest. This wasn't really the type of book I thought it would be, it has its worthwhile moments, but it wasn't really for me.

[Apratim Mukherjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a book about five ordinary people,from different backgrounds, living in the largest city of Pakistan i.e.Karachi.The author mostly focuses on what was happening in the lives of the aforementioned people,from a period crime was rampant to a period where there was peace in Karachi,albeit the city becoming a 'police(Rangers would be the correct term) state'.The book is fast paced in general(except for some moments of boredom in the story of Siraj).
Coming to some technical points the details of the characters are well fleshed out and the world around them visualized with ease.But the book doesn't have any photographs,which makes a reader unfamiliar with Karachi hard to understand what is actually going on (I think photos of Lyari,Edhi ambulances,Landhi,Bahria Town etc needed to be included).
In the end,I would say,the book reminded me vaguely of another book 'Dongri to Dubai',but whilst Dongri to Dubai glorifies some gangsters,Karachi Vice,while instilling hope,goes into the details of political violence,slow justice system and clearly draws a line between black and white.
It is a good non-fiction book on crime ,as seen from common man's eyes,a sub genre not explored much.My rating four out of five.

[Catalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bloodied painting of Karachi. A town at the mercy of violence, gangs, drug lords, deep rooted corruption, ethnic issues and heartbreaking poverty. The town comes to life through the lenses of a few characters that Shackle has interviewed: an ambulance driver, a former teacher turned activist, a young village wife, a television journalist and a self-employed administrative worker. Each story is touching in its own way. Despite leading different lives, the characters are united by their quest to help their own people and by the injustice of living in a society where those in power are more concern with getting rich than in helping to build a secure state with opportunities for all.
Over the years I've read a bit about Pakistan/Bangladesh, therefore the general background more or less came as a confirmation of what I knew. Luckily Samira has packed enough details in her stories to keep my interest alive and teach me a thing or two. And of course I couldn't not be touched and enraged at the same time by everything that innocent people have to endure.

*Book from NetGalley with many thank to the publisher.

[Zak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love books like this, ones that give me a glimpse into life in other parts of the world that I'm not familiar with. The life stories are told through the lives of a suitably diverse small group of Karachi residents, offering different perspectives and experiences. I was totally intrigued and left wishing for more.

[Zehra Irfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Actual: 4.75)

[Sarah Faichney · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Karachi Vice'' is a deeply engaging work of narrative non-fiction. The extent of Samira Shackle's research, visits and interviews is clear throughout. These aren't characters in a story. They're real people, with rich lives which Shackle explores with empathy and respect. The book provides some historical detail, particularly with regards to politics. Glossaries and timelines are provided and I found this helpful. Shackle paints a beautifully nuanced portrait of the city of Karachi through the eyes of its residents. I found the book to be an extremely interesting and informative read.

[Manny Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, but shocking insight into Karachi. Politics, religion, ethnicity and gang crime are all intertwined, contributing to the uncertainty and complexity that the city is wrapped up in. Learnt a lot from this read!

[T Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan (though not its capital) and among the largest cities in the world. It is also a troubled city; and Karachi Vice tells a bit of its story through accounts of the lives of five people. Safdar is an ambulance driver for a charity called Edhi; Parveen a resident and activist from Lyari, a densely populated area fought over by rival gangs ; Siraj a map researcher whose research into water resources make him vulnerable to attack by those with, um, business interest in controlling water supplies; Jannat a woman from a village near Karachi who tells of its near-destruction because of illegal land possession by a private developer; and Zille a crime reporter who lives for the thrill of real-time reporting on notable incidents. Some names have been changed.

The book is astonishing and has the feel of authenticity since it is based on the actual experiences of these people. It is also something of a dark book, as you would expect from the title. It is a somewhat disjointed read, particularly in the first half of the book, since the various stories are interspersed; you read a chapter on one, then on another, than back to the first, and so on. There is a common thread though, and it all begins to make sense when you go back to re-read the prologue, having finished the rest of the book. There we find a timeline of major events as well as the background. Karachi, Shackle explains, “has been home to a series of complex and ever-evolving conflicts, with sectarian and ethnic resentment mingling with politics and organized crime.” The author concludes that “this is the front line of global urbanization at its most unforgiving.” It is important for all sorts of reasons, demonstrating the human cost of corruption and sectarian conflict.

The tone is measured and matter of fact though you cannot read it without feeling angry at times. One incident that I found particularly stirred my emotion was the account of the 2012 Baldia Town fire, a fire in a textile factory where “all but one exit had been locked by bosses who did not want the workers to take breaks or steal the products … anyone who made it to the front gate of the compound found it locked too.” Many lives were lost.

Karachi Vice has been a long time coming. Author Samira Shackle is a freelance journalist and editor of the New Hamanist, a rationalist quarterly. Shackle is based in London but her mother is a Karachiite. Shackle lived there between 2012 and 2013, a tumultuous period ahead of the Karachi Operation, an effort to stem the violence and crime and one that had considerable success. Shackle was also in Karachi following police patrols in 2015 and 2016 and has first-hand knowledge of incidents like those she describes. In 2018 she won a book prize enabling her to get the book deal that has enabled publication. Parts of the book have been previewed in the Guardian as long ago as 2015.

While I highly recommend Karachi Vice for anyone with an interest in world affairs, I do not find the approach of the book entirely to my taste. I preferred the Guardian pieces where the main subjects are referred to by surname rather than forename; I could have done with a bit more background; the jumping around between subjects makes things hard to follow at times.

None of that matters. Shackles tells real stories from people who get too little attention; the book is gripping, sad but also in a way inspiring, thanks to those moments when courage, love and human decency shine despite dark times.

With thanks to the publisher for supplying an advance proof of this title

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Karachi Vice’ is an interesting piece of reportage, but less entertaining and compelling than I hoped it might be. Written by Samira Shackle, a British journalist with English and Pakistani parents, it follows the lives of five citizens of the capital of Pakistan, Karachi. The book is constructed from interviews she did did on two trips to the city and certainly gives a flavour of life in such a turbulent metropolis. What it lacks is the energy and strong storytelling that might have made it a more gripping read. It certainly doesn’t live up to the exploitative promise of its title.
There are certainly some interesting characters here, I particularly enjoyed reading about Safdar, an ambulance driver who spends most of his time collecting corpses and Zille, a television journalist whose work frequently puts him in the firing line. In fact all five are well chosen and each adds something different to the picture of Karachi that Shackle paints. Of course, the city itself comes out as a character too: violent and desperate as it is fractured again and again by terrorism, crime and political corruption.
The problem for me was that the writing is never as good as the subject matter. It’s all a bit staid and scholarly. Shackle writes well about politics but less well about crime, and so the book lacked the drama I wanted it to have. I don’t normally nitpick on the intricacies of an author’s writing, but the fact that Shackle re-uses two dollar words didn’t help matters. “Higgledy piggledy” and “febrile” both cropped more than once.
If the subject matter appeals, this is still worth a read though. The subjects are all interesting and Karachi itself is fascinating. What’s more, there’s never been a more important time than now to understand the lives and experiences of fellow humans around the world. ‘Karachi Vice’ certainly gave me a better awareness of everyday life in Pakistan.

[Sania · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first bought the book, I thought it was fictional. I was surprised when I realised that it's actually a factual account. But when I learned that it's written by a journalist, it made sense. It definitely reads like something you would read on the guardian (which is also where the author has published some of her work coincidentally).
I really like the book. It is clearly written for a white audience (she writes chaddar as chador and has to describe every pakistani dish), but will also resonate with anyone who grew up in karachi of the 2000's like I did. She's an outsider - a British author who only ever visited Karachi for a couple of years for her journalistic pursuits, but is careful not to romanticise the city like so many diaspora Pakistanis do. Indeed, while the book does tell a story of human perseverance and hope, it is careful not to force a narrative of resilience down the readers' throat. I found it to be an excellent account of the political and socio-cultural landscape of Karachi. As a young girl who grew up in Karachi and who experienced all the events described in the book (the political upheaval, rising crime rate, terrorism threats etc), I was never able to pierce together the political context of the city with the actual lived circumstances until I went to a private university and unlearned the pakistani nationalistic narrative. This book provides a very compelling counter-narrative and a bird's eye view of the political landscape, showing ultimately how the state is intertwined closely with the corrupt workings of the so called mafias, urban developers and other stakeholders.
Near the end, the book also hints at the forced disappearances orchestrated by the army, contextualising it in the current day context. Perhaps 20 years from now, a sequal could explore what transpires.

[Humaira · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable book describing a city that is both complicated and violent but also incredibly hopeful.

Even amongst the chaos and violence humanity remains and people truly care for others.

This book is the study of 5 different people and their experience of the city they call home.

At times heartbreaking and incredibly visceral this is a book not to be missed.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this and absorb this work.

[Maven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really makes you think of the world outside one's very small bubble.

[Billy Workman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sloppy keeping myself in check to read this. There is a lot that Karachi Vice explores which is interesting in its own right, learning about society in a third world country and the political turmoil being just as chaotic as you'd expect is interesting and at times incredibly engaging, but I found myself struggling to get through it because of a few different factors. one is the structure and narrative flow, obviously with the meat of this story coming from interviews of real people, a lot of it feels like detail that's loosely connected, and not even necessarily a full arc. I wish I got more of a sense of rich character dynamics, the interplay of how these different interviews might have bounced off of each other to tell the greater narrative. there's elements of that, and when they occur the writing shines, but for the most part it didn't.

Structurally, the first five chapters, 20-22 pages each, are dedicated solely and specifically to the five interviewed individuals, giving an incredibly rich sense of their lives, their personalities, and their occupation in Karachi, and what all of that entails. Shackle is talented in that she can extract an exceptional amount of material to work with, and is able to use it to her advantage to keep her writing fresh, but, what that lacked her was a more naturalistic flow of information, where each compartmentalized idea can be explored in conjunction with other ideas that could communicate something much more nuanced, whilst retaining the depth she already has.

Still, I appreciated reading about the violent and chaotic life of Karachi, and it's web of criminal activity. In a time of turmoil in the developed western world, it's nice to see that life can prevail through the most niche communities in the worst conditions, and that the lively humanity that people foster can be surprisingly potent. It makes me feel like the hands which are grasping at normalcy with the rise of fascism have more power than they believe.

[Parvathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suketu Mehta's Maximum City has been a favourite read, and so has Rana Dasgupta's Capital. Mumbai and Delhi come alive in these writers' hands - not the Mumbai and Delhi we know, living in our bubbles, but the underbelly of these cities, the shadow world, the one that footpath dwellers and taxi drivers and bar dancers know. 

Karachi Vice is to Karachi what Maximum City is to Mumbai - an unvarnished portrait of a city that millions live in, an urban sprawl that is a whole world in itself

Samira Shackle paints a picture of a city riven on ethnic lines - the Mohajirs and the Sindhis and the Pashtuns all lay claim. A city where violence is endemic, between gangs, between the Rangers and the gangs, between ethnic groups. Where the politician-gangster nexus is strong and visible. Where land, water, and electricity are all up for grabs and the winner is the one with the strongest strong men and the strongest relationship with the men in power. It is a scary portrait, and you would think the city was unlivable. And yet...

Shackle humanizes the city by showing it to us through the eyes of five individuals who live in it. Safdar the ambulance driver driven by a mission to save the lives he can; Parveen the principled school teacher fighting the corruption and violence around her; Siraj the surveyor keeping his head down and quietly going about mapping the city; Zille the crime reporter, a Shia in a Sunni country, addicted to the big story, the one with the connections to the gangsters and the police; and quiet Jannat, the first girl who finishes school in her village on the city outskirts, who sees her village's way of life disappearing as the city encroaches.

The neighborhoods of Lyari and Orangi and Landhi are far from the bubbled enclaves of the upper classes. They show a side of the city that is cruel and corrupt and violent and venal. But Shackle shows us how people survive in this darkness and yet manage to remain human. How they continue to fight for a world where kindness, generosity, principles, and justice are not absent.  It is a superb portrait of what it means to live  in the crushing urban landscape of today.

A high recommend.

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at Karachi and its extreme crime wave from 2013-2018 or so, when thousands of citizens died each year in the internecine violence.

I knew almost nothing about Karachi before I started reading this, and I spent a ton of time googling things while I read. Shackle paints a vivid, tragic portrait of this massive city through interviews with 5 people.

Safdar, an ambulance driver who is not afraid of driving into extreme danger as gun battles rage on the city streets.

Zille is a crime reporter, reporting on all the violence in the city, and corrupt government officials who enable it.

Parveen, a street school teacher, tries to stand up against the gang members and criminals, even though women are not expected to speak in public or travel alone.

Jannat married at 16, and lives in a village on the edge of Karachi, fighting land-grabbing developers.

Siraj is a resource mapper, combatting the water mafia groups who control access to this basic necessity.

[Summer Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stunning debut. Shackle, an award-winning British journalist, has a Pakistani-born mother, and her extended family members still live in Defense and Clifton, Karachi’s more affluent neighborhoods. The book offers a fascinating portrait of a vital city seldom seen by non-Pakistanis, as told through the lives of an ambulance driver, a “street school” teacher, a cartographer, a schoolgirl, and a crime reporter. This is excellent writing, with gorgeous, cinematic prose, weaving lives together in such a way that reminded me of Manil Suri’s 2001 novel The Death of Vishnu, where a story is told through different yet interlocking perspectives. What Shackle has accomplished here is truly remarkable.

[Rania T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This piece of narrative non fiction explores the lives of a handful of denizens from some of the more deprived parts of Karachi, Pakistan. Samira Shackle does a good job of showing her readers the world beyond the more posh areas of Clifton and Defence and the struggles people face like the land mafia, gang violence, lack of health, sanitation and education. Good to see a glossary at the end of the book as well for words in Urdu.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book exploring life in modern Karachi. The author weaves together the daily lives of very different people from in and around the city. The political and social circumstances are cleverly overlaid giving the reader and real appreciation of the challenges facing Karachi inhabitants. It also makes you realise how much you take for granted.

[Clayton Cheever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get to know a city of 20 million people through stories of 5 - Safdar, Pardee, Siraj, January, and Zille. This is an exceptional work of narrative nonfiction. A complicated landscape with massive disparities, modern Pakistan is mesmerizing, frequently brutal, and overflowing with people that Shackle portrays with deep compassion. I really love books like this that fiercely asert the universal need to simply recognize each other's existence.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Camilla Olivieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kind of book I wish I could write about the cities in my life

[Ayesha M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karachi is a city full of contradictions. Its sheer scale, its restlessness and hunger, is overwhelming. As Shackle astutely observes in this narrative non-fiction, one must learn its geography to survive. And by geography, she does not mean the city's highways or borders. She means the precise points at which one set of allegiances shifts towards another, the road that leads you from the grips of one gang to the next. Yet, for a city engulfed by political turmoil and military operations, humanity persists. Whilst Shackle describes rivalling political forces capably, more important are her descriptions of the ordinary people these forces claim to represent. As you might have imagined, the enmity between ethnic communities does not circulate between the people she interviews. Rather, it is politically engineered and motivated by the constant competition for resources.

In Karachi vice, we witness the city intimately through its least represented:

Safdar, the fearless Pashtun ambulance driver who knows every corner of the city. Having watched his brother suffer from polio, he is determined that no-one should ever have to wait for medical assistance on his watch. Parveen, the incorruptible Baloch activist confronting the gangs of Lyari with the best tool at her disposal: education. Siraj, the quietly dedicated Muhajir social worker who maps unknown areas of the city to get them connected to water and electricity. No matter what tragedy befalls him, no matter which water-mafia threatens him against exposing illegal water diversion, he quietly maps on and on, fighting for change. Jannat, the brave Sindhi woman who prizes education above all and whose ancestral land is being encroached upon by property developers. And Zille, the hardened, adrenaline-junkie journalist who puts himself in repeated danger to get the best scoop. Shackle expertly captures the essence of the people that make up this ruthless, merciful city.

The book is accessible and yet very balanced. For instance, Shackle explores the violence between Muhajirs and Pashtuns when it was at its worst. She makes clear, however, that this did not stop Siraj, the Muhajir social worker, from helping his friend, a Pashtun head-teacher, to acquire resources for his school. This did not stop Pashtun bus drivers risking their lives to drive their Muhajir passengers to safety. And Safdar's biggest hero is Edhi, the Muhajir humanitarian behind Pakistan's largest voluntary ambulance network.

Karachi is a misused and misunderstood city. It is rare to come across a work that is objective in studying its cruelties, that does not glamorise its violent underbelly but that celebrates its people nonetheless. I'll end this review with Shackle's own words. "I noticed that many people elsewhere in the country had a similar feeling about Karachi: that it was lawless, dangerous, impossible. On the face of it, they had a point. Karachi is polluted and violent, and in many ways a difficult place to live. But despite these challenges, the city has an almost gravitational pull. Rightly or wrongly, millions of people around Pakistan continue to see it as a place where they can make their fortune, or escape the inequalities of their rural homes. Like the vast numbers who pack up and move to the city every year, I found myself unable to escape Karachi's orbit."

[Jifu · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley.)

In Karachi Vice, Shamira Shackle tells the stories of several residents of the ever-growing and sprawling Karachi. And as readers come to intimately know these women and men over the course of a few hundred pages, they, in turn, come to better know Karachi, the various forces that both divide it and rule it, and the millions caught in the middle. Between descriptions of battles in the street between an almost bewildering away of factions, barely visible boundaries between organized crime and the ruling political parties, bombings by insurgent groups, increasing scarcity of basics like water that is often exacerbated for the enrichment of an already-comfortable few, plus a daily other stresses, Shackle makes the city come vividly and at times painfully alive, making for a thrilling and gripping glimpse into this city. Not to mention a read that is also packed almost to bursting with frustrations and tragedy that often made this reader’s gut clench. However, through the women and men that she has chosen to highlight Shackle also makes sure to shine light upon the optimism and tenacity that help keep daily life going out in Karachi’s streets. The result is a surprising undercurrent of hope that is always present if a bit more obscured at times than others.

If the gushing description above hasn’t already made things clear, then allow me to clarify things by saying that this was very well done. And not just specifically as a book devoted to Pakistan’s largest city, but just overall it’s a great read that has so effectively shattered my personal non-fiction slump that I will be more than happy to recommend it without a second thought.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrative non-fiction is not a type of writing that's easy to do - or more precisely, it's not easy to do well. Some of my all-time favourite books fit that genre but Karachi Vice disappointed me. Whilst the book follows the lives and experiences of a handful of people living and working in Karachi, the threads tying their stories together were, in my opinion, just not strong enough to keep me flicking through the e-pages. I didn't feel I really got to know any of them as deeply as I wanted to.

My passion is for books set in India, but I also read a lot set in Pakistan. For a non-local, I'm probably relatively rare in that I've been to Karachi and found the place fascinating. Whenever I travel, I have moments looking out of train or autorickshaw or taxi windows when I glimpse somebody just going about their business and find myself wondering how their life might be, how different it is from mine, and wondering if they are happy with what they have. Books like this offer a window into other people's lives and I actively seek them out.

The five people this book focuses on all have interesting lives and my disappointment with the book is not disappointment with them. It was the way the 'story' was put together that frustrated me, not the people it was about. I felt that the author held herself so far apart from her subjects that she might have been better to have left herself out of the book altogether.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ahead of publication.

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book. This book overall is on political parties that affected the lives of the people that the author interviewed and researched. The 5 people she mentioned are from as Karachiiet say ‘pull k is paar’ (the other side of pull) where there is a struggle, hard work, dirt, filth, drugs, shooting, and minor crime like theft, etc for the people. The author is from the other side pull where there are facilities, peace, high society.

This book is captured a great deal of struggle that normal people go through where there is political pressure, or because of political issues and parties and government how the low class, low to middle class, and also the middle-class lives are affected by it.

In the 5 people named Safdar, Zille, Parveen, Jannat, and Siraj. Safdar Story is the most emotional for me. Abdul Sattar Edhi May Allah is pleased with him and his action what he did for the nation is respected.

Also, I want to mention the most important thing that I felt a twitch when I read that was it mentioned in a book that
"Ashura is particularly holy for Shias. It marks the death of Imam Hussein the Grandson of Prophet SAW and the Son of Ali RA, WHO FOUNDED SHIA ISLAM"
I MEAN NO, NONE of them FOUNDED SHIA sect, but people themselves made it up that we need to learn history that Ali RA time or at Hussein RA time there we supporters and haters but Hussein Ibn Ali himself believed in what Rasool Allah SAW taught his companions and us.

[Zaynab M · Rating 5 out of 5]

After spotting this book at the airport on the way from Islamabad to Karachi, I instantly knew this had to take first place on my TBR.

Little did I know how much this book would tug at my heartstrings and nestle its way into my heart.

Having grown up in Karachi but left at the age of 11, a piece of my heart always remained there. Growing up, I remember vividly the bittersweet feeling of turning on GEO at 6am to the news that schools are closed today because of a targeted killing. I remember being stuck in a traffic jam on the way back from eid shopping one night in December, to the news that’s Benazir had been shot. While still in the same traffic jam, suddenly we see people with sticks breaking car windows and burning tires - just a couple of cars away from us - would we be next? And drowning it out while dancing to music in the car because of course it was eid.

Karachi never really left me. And I never thought anyone would understand this relationship I have with Karachi. Wouldn’t seeing things like this at age 6 scar a person for life? At the very least, you would not want to go back to the city that hurt so many? (The reason my family finally moved was because a very close neighbour, in the house opposite ours, had his legs blown off in a targeted blast meant to end his life.)

Yet - Karachi (after Karbala) is the city of my heart. Islamabad is beautiful too, there is no competition. But where Islamabad is beautiful in the conventional sense - mountains, trees, no traffic - Karachi is beautiful in the peeling paint on the walls of Victorian buildings in Saddar, in the tangled electricity wires painting the sky, in the sound of horns and maghrib azan at sunset.

Karachi is beautiful not because it is beautiful, but because of its stories. Because of the aeons of generations and people that have passed there and have *lived*. Every area of Karachi is like it’s own mini-city, with different street slang and even different accents. Despite living in Karachi, being a female I never got to visit orangi, Lyari or Malir, unless very quickly for something unavoidable, accompanied by terrified adults used to DHA. But now, my heart yearns to be one with the people of Karachi, to *see* them and understand their stories and suffering and love.

And while I hope to one day actually visit karachi the way it should be - this book gave me a taste of that. I didn’t think anyone understood my relationship with Karachi, but Samira Shackle has put this mess of love and sadness and grief and anger and love that is my relationship with Karachi - into words. And the best part, it is the words of people who lived and breathed in Karachi, who have felt so many emotions and been through so much on and for this land.

Thank you for showing me the parts of karachi hidden away from me

[Shivanshu Jha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up Karachi Vice and ended up reading it cover to cover in just two sittings—less by intention and more because the book simply refused to let me go.

Journalist Shamira Shackle delivers a work that is as gripping as it is disturbing, a narrative that pulls you into the underbelly of Karachi and holds you there with relentless force.

This is not passive reading; it feels cinematic, almost visceral. The prose unfolds like a dark action-thriller, each page steeped in morbid, tragic imagery. You don’t merely read about Karachi—you inhabit it. The city breathes through the stench of rotting garbage, blood-soaked streets, gunpowder, and unclaimed corpses. The atmosphere is oppressive and alive, and the narration has an uncanny ability to send shivers down your spine. It is immersive in the truest sense.

At its core, Karachi Vice is also a devastating account of systemic failure. Through the lives of five or six central characters, the author exposes what happens when governance collapses and the state becomes complicit with political parties and criminal gangs. The result is a scale of civil chaos that is almost unimaginable. The helplessness of ordinary citizens is palpable—hope erodes page by page as the very institutions meant to protect people instead betray them. One chilling revelation stays with you long after you close the book: there was a time when Karachi recorded one of the highest death rates of any city in the world.

Corruption runs like a dark vein through the narrative. Bribery, extortion, targeted killings, drug trafficking, and open gunfights are not anomalies here—they are systems in themselves. Political patronage fuels violence, ensuring revenue streams, ethnic dominance, and sustained control over power, all at the cost of human lives and stolen resources.

Perhaps most unsettling is the sharp portrayal of ethnic fragmentation. Despite being a Muslim-majority society, the city is deeply divided along ethnic lines—Pashtuns, Baloch, Sindhis, Punjabis, Mohajirs, and others—each pitted against the other. The book lays bare how these divisions are cynically exploited by political actors to serve narrow, self-serving agendas, turning identity into a weapon.

Karachi Vice is not for the faint-hearted. It is brutal, unsettling, and emotionally draining—but also profoundly important.

It grips your mind, churns your gut, and leaves you with an aching sense of tragedy. If you are willing to confront an unflinching portrait of power, violence, and human cost, this book is absolutely worth your time. Give it a shot—but be prepared to be shaken.