What else could a story with a sleazy bar, the bar girls gyrating to loud vulgar music, some rich influential society honchos, some underworld hit-men, few dirty cops and a lone honest policeman trying to make a sense of it all, be other than a super thriller?
If the book happens to be written by Damyanti Biswas, who debuted with bloodcurdling story ‘You Beneath Your Skin’ in the world of crime fiction novels, then be assured that the thriller would be a story with a chilling murder or two with sudden twists and turns in the story.
Damyanti is an Indian author with numerous short stories to her credit and has been shortlisted for Bath Novel Awards. She is the co-editor of Forge Literary Magazine. Says Damyanti about her second novel, The Blue Bar, “The story idea developed from a prompt in a workshop, that required me to write about a character who was being watched. The image of a woman in blue sequined sari became the first few lines of the story.”
When dismembered female corpses began to appear at different locations pointing to mysterious disappearances of bar girls, inspector Arnav concludes that he needs to hunt down a serial killer before his next victim turns up slaughtered. But when another bar girl Tara, Arnav’s love interest from a decade ago, goes missing, the desperation to solve the case becomes personal. His investigations take him through secrets of rich and powerful. Arnav’s perceptions of friendship and loyalty are challenged along the way when he uncovers corruption in the ranks of his colleagues. As he finds more about piling dead bodies, he realizes there are bigger forces at play. While Arnav faces the dilemma of confronting friends and bosses, he needs to accept his own truth about his love and fears.
From shady dance bars to lavish bungalows of the rich, the story weaves its way through myriad emotions, brutal indifference, hate, unrequited love, revenge, abuse and lies. The twists in the story not only surprise but also hit hard.
As you read this book, it is apparent that a lot of research has gone into writing a engrossing story that brings alive the locales by describing the smells, the sights and the behaviors of characters. The story is set in Mumbai, a city where people migrate in search of dreams and aspirations.The grasping narration does justice in describing certain traits of Mumbai. It pulls you into the story making it feel all real, as if all the scenes are unfolding in front of you as you watch in horror.
A nail biting super paced well-written narration that leaves the reader with no time to think anything beyond reading the next page and then. A great read for mystery readers.
Since I haven’t read the earlier book of this series, I don’t know how much this book connects with back story.
Another book that has been long overdue for review is “Then The Door Bell Rang”. Reading through the blurb, I was little worried about not making it through the entire book…well I am not exactly comfortable reading about suicides and self harm. At least that is what I assumed the story to be.
An author signed book is a prized possession for book lovers. And when ‘The Girl Who Loved A Pirate’ arrived at my door step, I was happy to receive yet another book with a note from author.
So a new book came at my doorstep… Finding Juliet, sent by Writer’s Melon.
With quite an interest in baking, I am not new to the exotic names of desserts and hence the name of the book “Crème brûlée” by Ramona Sen intrigued me enough to opt for reviewing the story.
Politics and caste-ism are two issues where I usually go mute. One because I do not understand or rather try not to understand the way political parties function by throwing muck at each other, pulling each other down and causing furore over progressive ideas instead of uniting and making the nation a real gem in the world. And two because I am uncomfortable about the caste system still prevailing in the country.
Blame it on television serials and movies, the word ‘Tantric’ invokes more often an image of a man with evil look in his eyes and unkempt long white hair dressed in red toga performing black magic with bones of dead around him…
Of the three books that landed up at my door-step, this was one which caught my eye as it had some pretty good reviews including one by Shashi Tharoor. And I was much intrigued to find that the book is penned by a 17 year-old girl. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t jealous a bit too…here I am, mother of a teenage daughter, with an urge to write the story that has been brewing in me for quite some time now but every time I put pen to paper my courage fails me and I begin to doubt whether my story is worth telling; and there is this brave young girl who has hardly spent time in an adult world but has gone ahead and published her school life story!
I was travelling when this book was delivered at home. Accustomed to think novel as a at least 200 pages thick, I was surprised to see this booklet thinner than a travel guide!
Shoma Abhyankar 