India, Dec. 13 -- Fouzia and Qazi-ud-din Ahmed started hating their son Waleed when he turned 13. His descent from being their precious firstborn, a boy at that, to a fat, ugly school dropout was quick. The Ahmeds live in Korangi, a satellite town of Karachi earmarked for the poor, and Qazi-ud-din believes he has done his worthless son a favour by getting him to work at his uncle's grocery store in the neighbourhood. Paranormal experiences in the Ahmed household are routine after Fouzia, eager to birth another boy, visits a sorcerer named Baba Bangali, in an obscure part of the city. The sorcerer promises her a boy, whom she delivers after an unusually extended maternity period running into a couple of years. Thereafter, for the Ahmeds, the apple of their eye is Hameed. He is dropped to school each morning by his father, even though his sister Sadia walks to school each morning too, enchanting gully boys with her hazel eyes. The shapeshifting shadow and innate strength of Hameed, who may have been fathered by a djinn, intrigues the boys at school. This is a family only on paper, though. Each member is tired of their daily drudgery, unaware and uncaring when it comes to the demons eating up the other. Life isn't kind to Waleed. One night, he is mugged and his mobile phone stolen. As the bikers zip past, the only clue Waleed picks up is that one of his mugger's ears is sliced in half. He and his friend Omair Abid start looking for his muggers. Armed with a plastic gun, both plunge into a life of thuggery, working at their respective shops during the day and moonlighting as mobile thieves at night. Their families are happy with the extra money and don't ask for details, except for an occasional lackadaisical: "As it is, what kind of job happens for, as it is, a few nights a week?" (Qazi-ud-din's habit of splattering "as it is" in all his sentences will leave readers chuckling.) The novel is set in 2013, as general elections draw near. A tout who sees potential in him recruits Waleed into the Muhajir Liberation Party (MLP), the official ruling party of Karachi. His profile is upgraded after a meeting with Muhammad Khateeb Najmi, a senior party leader. Najmi gifts Waleed his first real gun: Lady Beretta. "We sons of Muhajireen do not play with toy guns. Our mothers sowed the seeds to this land. Our sisters flowered them. Together, we rear this Garden of Eden," Najmi says, suggesting to Waleed that youngsters with his background can climb the social ladder only by resorting to violence. Thereafter, Waleed takes his role more seriously, saying yes to every order of his bosses, including the merciless massacring of inhabitants of Karachi. He convinces himself that having been born and bred in hate, he is the oracle of hate. The heated contest here is between the ethnic Pushtuns, the Sindhis, and the "outsiders", the Muhajirs. Corruption is rife and votes are being forged. Waleed's people have forged over two million ballots and Waleed has gleefully forged his father's vote too. His father had grown disenchanted with MLP and the manner in which it let the once-majestic city of Karachi become a picture of neglect, and wanted to vote for the Islamic Democratic Alliance. Waleed seeks his revenge and doesn't let that happen. Consumed by hate, Waleed's rise in the underworld is meteoric. He relishes giving in to the promptings of Lady Berreta to annihilate everything that gets in his way. Then his life takes an ugly turn, when his loyalty is called into question. The novel, which seamlessly blends political reality with magic realism, is a story of Karachi's decline. The very people who breathe life into it become determined to lead it down a path of ruin, dividing the city on linguistic and ethnic lines. Those who wanted to empower and bring all citizens at par begin to recruit poor and uneducated youngsters such as Waleed to pursue a deadly agenda. The novel concludes on an optimistic note, with Karachi's citizens seeing light at the end of this long and dark tunnel, and promising to revive their city once again, this time with love and compassion. The Oracle of Hate is Hamza Jalil Albasit's debut novel. His stark imagery and writing are brilliant. Here is his description of the sky when Waleed steps out after dark to mug people: "The clouds had cleared to reveal a gimlet-eyed moon and a constellation of lusterless stars that wanted to call in sick for the nightshift." Albasit, who was born in Karachi, left Pakistan at 17 to study abroad. After his return, he seems to have joined the ranks ofhis country's finest writers....