“A blistering tour of Karachi's mean streets.” Ben Rawlence, author, City of Thorns

"An evocative portrait ... Vivid prose and Shackle’s skillful balancing of the personal and the political make this a worthy introduction to a complex metropolis.” Publishers Weekly

"Moving tales of ordinary people navigating an unimaginable degree of violence and strife... In addition to the eye-opening personal stories, Shackle weaves in Pakistani history, including the rise of the Taliban and the dizzying array of political parties, riots, natural disasters, and sectarian violence that have plagued the city.” Kirkus Reviews

"Karachi Vice paints a vivid and compassionate picture of a
metropolis struggling with poverty, ethnic tensions, corruption, and the scars of colonialism." Booklist

“I was completely gripped by it.” —Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire

“In her powerful narrative nonfiction debut … Shackle weaves Karachi’s
turbulent history of political unrest and ethnic divisions around quiet
acts of humanity—revealing the city’s bruised but resilient spirit.”
—New Statesman

“A moving account of the struggles of everyday heroes—and of the
unhappy metropolis that needs them.” —The Economist


“Shackle excels at drawing out the incisive quote … the book’s triumph is Zille, the one character whose motives aren’t always transparent. Shackle can never quite pin him down – he lies to her three times about his age – and yet the city comes to life through his eyes.” The Guardian

‘Sobering and gripping… Karachi Vice meticulously constructs a vibrant mosaic of a city’s underbelly, while disentangling the ways in which Karachi is enmeshed with crime lords, gangs, political interests and militants.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘“[A] brilliant portrait of a complex place … in some senses, the book is like a novel: each character is so beautifully drawn that we are in their heads with ease, though that is often a hard place to be … This is like an X-rated film you want to walk out of but you don’t because alongside the brutality is the resilience, vitality and moral backbone of Shackle’s five subjects: despite being battered day after day, they hold on to their values, and their character, and in doing so, they give us hope.’ Mail on Sunday