Ghosts and Baklava follows Rehan Monsoor, a thirty-something Pakistani American “numbers guy” who thinks his biggest problem is getting a promotion at Nexus Billing. He is fired instead, and a weird chain of events drops him into his uncle’s struggling restaurant, Baklava Express, where ghosts, jinn, and a doomsday cult keep showing up with very personal plans for him. The story jumps between his teenage dare in a haunted “Spook House,” his present-day fight against a vengeful jinn and a group called the Ten, and his slow-burn love story with Wava, the girl he crushed on in high school and never quite forgot. Food, family drama, creepy magic, and wisecracking horror scenes all swirl together until Rehan has to decide what kind of “merchant” he is and who he wants next to him when the supernatural countdown hits zero.

I had a lot of fun with the voice in this book. The narration sounds like a friend telling you an insane story. Rehan cracks jokes when things get tense, and the humor stays pretty sharp, even when people are literally catching fire in front of him. The dialogue moves fast and feels natural, and the running gags about 90s music, Vanilla Ice, and Desi aunties gave the whole thing a warm, familiar vibe. Sometimes the banter leans a bit heavy, and a few emotional beats get undercut by a punch line, but the mix of horror and rom-com mostly lands. I also liked how clear the action scenes felt, even with cultists, ghosts, and flying furniture in the same room. The pacing dips a bit in the middle when the lore around the jinn and the book of spells gets explained, yet the story never fully stalls, because the character chemistry keeps pushing it forward.

Rehan’s “cursed mark” and the Spook House incident read like a metaphor for that one bad choice or trauma you keep dragging behind you, even after you grow up and get a corporate ID badge. His fear of being ordinary, his obsession with the promotion, and the way his whole identity collapses when he gets fired all feel uncomfortably real. The supernatural trouble almost feels like anxiety made physical, something that creeps out of old stories your parents told you and refuses to stay imaginary. I really appreciated the way the book treats community, too. The Desi family stuff, the restaurant regulars, the blend of faith, superstition, and everyday hustle, all give the horror weight. The jinn is scary, but the cult’s willingness to sacrifice other people for their “Harvest” feels like the more pointed commentary. It is about how far people will go when they convince themselves they are chosen or special.

I’d call Ghosts and Baklava a lively, heartfelt supernatural rom-com with some surprisingly grounded thoughts about failure, faith, and second chances baked into all the chaos. It fits readers who enjoy character-driven stories, pop-culture jokes, and mashups that put jinn, cults, and awkward Desi family dinners in the same scene without blinking. If you like your spooky reads with romance, comfort food, and a main character who copes by oversharing, this book is a pretty tasty pick.

Pages: 374 | ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FRZPYGW1