Psychs, A. H. Amin

Publishers: Author House UK

Pages: 423

Main Characters:

Hassan, Solomon, Adam

Based in the near future, set in the two great cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Psychs tells the story of Hassan, a man with a unique gift. Hassan has eight spiritual guardians who protect him throughout his life. One of them is his mother Sara and the other seven are U.S. soldiers who died in the attempt of protecting Sara from Iraqi soldiers during the First Gulf War. The ghosts protect Hassan as he grows from a boy into a man and guide him throughout his life in Abu Dhabi and his days as a student in Liverpool.

However, the ghosts also teach him some of their own skills that give Hassan an edge. These include first aid, martial arts and other techniques that the ghosts learned during their time in the U.S. army. Hassan believes that the ghosts were sent to protect him for a reason and that with this gift, he can do real good in the world. Hassan decides to use his guardians and the skills they have taught him to become a vigilantly and help stop bad people from operating in his city. However, when an international terrorist organisation plans to destroy parts of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Hassan soon finds that he is in over his head. He will need help not just from his ghosts, but also from a former U.S. Seal to overcome this threat!  

Although I did enjoy the story behind this book, I did have some issues with it. The first of these was A.H. Amin’s style when writing. At times, it really confused me. I found the grammar in the book hard to read and in some parts; it just did not make sense! For me, this made the book really hard to get into because sometimes you’d have to stop and re-read the sentences to understand what was been said/meant. At first, I thought the grammar was unintentional, but after reading some other reviews of Psychs, I discovered that other people enjoyed this style. I don’t know if it was me or if Amin’s writing style went totally over my head, but I just couldn’t get into the book as much as I usually would.

Another problem I had was the dialogue between Hassan and the ghosts. I found it difficult to follow what was been said by them and who said it because the characters were so similar. The ghosts were also always chopping and changing between who went to scout, or who was communicating between Hassan and another ghost or who was watching the bad guys. This further confused me when trying to picture which ghost was where! Plus, when you add in the fact that I was having problems following the story anyway, this issue made it even harder to get into the book!

I know it probably sounds like I’m making this book sound totally unappealing but I am giving an honest review and these were the problems I had with it. Of course, there were parts of the books I enjoyed. I really liked the idea of the ghosts and them teaching Hassan their skills and him using them for the greater good. I also liked that the fact that it was set in the UAE, because it was refreshing reading a book that was not based in Britain or America. But most of all I really liked Adam’s story; I just wish Amin did a better job putting that story across to me!

Overall, I did enjoy the book but couldn’t get into it because of how it was written. I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys these sorts of paranormal thriller novels. If you would like to purchase a copy of this novel, it is available on Kindle at Amazon.co.uk or for Kobo click here.

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