Alexander Khan, who writes under a pseudonym, was born in northern England in 1975. His father was a Pathan tribesman from north-west Pakistan and his mother was a working-class girl from Hyde, near Manchester. In 1978 his father abducted him, took him to his home village of Tajik, and he never saw his mother again. Flung back and forth between England and Pakistan for years, Alex was eventually kidnapped forced to join a camp famed for training members of extreme groups.
Alex is now a happily-married telecoms engineer. He lives with his wife on the south coast of England.