The Migrant

Fast-paced action adventure that kept me hooked right to the end with its unexpected twists and turns. Edgy, complex, with a relevant theme and great characters. This is a fascinating insight into a political situation I knew little about, and the vivid backdrop makes the action all the more believable. Masterfully written. A must-read.

Wow! What a great read. A book that evokes the feelings and passions of the Balkans, sucking you into an adventure, as if you’re really there. You can almost see and smell the environment. A story so based on facts that you can taste the reality of it every day in this area of the world.

You could not evoke the landscapes, soundscapes, struggles, conflicts and human stories of a country with such attention to detail, and as powerfully, as Paul Alkazraji does in The Migrant unless you knew your subject intimately. And Paul does. He has lived and worked in Albania, travelling frequently to Greece, over a period of more than twenty years – and has made his home there! Paul’s skill lies in blending immersive text with totally believable characters and contemporary storylines, drawing on both real and imagined scenarios, political, social, religious and much more! And he’s not afraid of depicting the consequences of life in the midst of conflict, without the presence of God, which naturally brings the reader to a truly beautiful place when his characters do “find” God and enter into a transformative relationship with Jesus Christ, the effects of which feed into every aspect of daily life and relationships.

The opening lines of The Migrant’s first chapter will make you, the reader, feel that the story has already been rollicking along like a bolting horse, and it is a pace that the storyteller never eases up on. If you like a story with picture language, colouring in with words, then you will enjoy this book. If you have an interest in the Balkans, its nation-states, history, culture and current affairs, this book will serve you well with flashes of the past, and what is happening there now. But that is the broader canvas for the challenges, and trauma, experienced by many modern-day Albanians.

My own work brings me into close contact with a virtual sub-class of humanity, the migrant, in particular the vulnerabilities that are unique to migrant-living. A migrant is a ready-made victim for exploitation by criminals and criminal organisations. Although a work of fiction, it is an accurate description of what really does happen.

This book is far more than just a gripping page-turner of action and adventure, though it certainly is that. The sounds, sights and smells of Albania and Greece fill the pages and draw you deep into the plot. Paul Alkazraji skilfully weaves the politically seething atmosphere of modern Greece and the grinding poverty of both countries together with the dark underworld of human trafficking, and contrasts them with one man’s faith that rescue at its deepest level can be achieved. A must-read, moving and redemptive novel that engages you from cover to cover.