Zia Ahmad

I became a writer, unexpectedly, six years ago. A random news story on the internet exposed me to the tragedy, hopelessness, and the harsh existence of the most vulnerable amongst us, the runaway street children. What started out as the scattered pile of news clips on my coffee table as research material, slowly turned into Yosef, Daud, Jogi, the characters of my book The One Hundred, their journey into life, their resolve to survive, and ability to battle a monster lurking in the shadows, awaiting.
Before coming to America, some twenty years ago, I lived in the historical city where the story takes place. I am a banking professional by day and live in Chicago with my partner, Scott.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Reviews
ABNA Expert Reviewer #1
Wow!!! Great work. I felt much empathy for both boys. Additionally, the location, so foreign to Americans, is fascinating, exotic.
Excellent. I bought in from the very beginning to the two boys. I wanted to know what was going to happen to them and what happened in the prologue. I could feel the tempo in his writing style that evokes the Pakistani language cadence. The English was perfect but it had that lilt unique to that region of the world. Would love to read this book. 5 stars all the way.

ABNA Expert Reviewer #2
I was impressed with the author's mastery of the slow pace working through here; this is not boring writing at all, but it knows what it's doing and how it's going to do it, and it demands the reader slow down and reflect on what's going on. It's also one of those books that makes me go look stuff up on Google Maps, and I like that a great deal, though I may be in the minority on that.
This is good stuff indeed, well-written and deliberate without being boring.