'' DEMONIC POSSESSIONS '' : BOOK REVIEW SNIPPET

'' The Haunting of Dr Rahim-ud-Din Shamsi and Other Unsettling Tales.'' By Ayesha Muzaffar.

'' DEMONIC POSSESSIONS '' : Ayesha Muzaffars, latest offering strings together three novellas that will undoubtedly delight fans of the horror genre.

Ayesha Muzaffar, by means of two intriguing books preceding this one [ ' Jinnistaan ' 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 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 favorite character in the book. A taciturn child, he is initially treated coldly by a domineering father and stifled by a simple, gentle mother.

His mother fears that he is prone to possession by jinn influences, simply because he has an extra finger on one hand.

Polydactyly is a relatively harmless condition caused by a genetic mutation, but Rahim's relatively uneducated mother can be excused for not knowing the scientific logic underlying the existence of multiple fingers on her child's hand.

The World Students Society thanks Nadya Chishty-Mujahid, an Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan.

She has authored two collections of short stories : Timeless College Tales and Perennial College Tales, and a play, The Political Chess King.