Ayesha Muzaffar, by means of two intriguing books preceding this one (Jinnistan and The Bhabhis of Lahore), has already established a sound name for herself in the realm of supernatural-themed fiction. Her latest foray into this entertaining, albeit dark, territory, The Haunting of Dr Rahim-ud-Din Shamsi and Other Unsettling Tales, strings together three novellas of the horror genre.
While the overarching subject involves jinns and the dangers of demonic possession, each novella is distinctly different from the others. The first contains a mild-mannered male protagonist, Rahim, while the central characters of the other two are women. All three pieces of writing, however, are united in noting how the world of the jinns can impact that of humans, often with consequences that are problematic, to say the least, and downright disastrous at worst.
Rahim Shamsi is perhaps my favourite character in the book. A taciturn child, he is initially treated coldly by a domineering father and stifled by a simple, gentle mother.
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