Title: Private India
Author: Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson
Publisher: Arrow Books
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller
Pages: 470
The authors and a crime mystery were the reason why I wanted to
review this book. After a bout of love stories, a crime mystery was a welcome
break. While the plot seemed intriguing and interesting, the thickness of the
book made me wonder if I could finish reading it in the stipulated time. While
the book was not gripping, it still piqued my curiosity and that’s exactly how
I finished reading the book.
The story line talks about Private India, the Indian wing of
Private Worldwide, an investigating agency owned and run by Jack Morgan. Santosh
Wagh heads the Indian arm of Private India and is a character that keeps
talking to himself in his head and needs booze to keep him going. Santosh’s
team includes Mubeen, the forensic expert, Nisha Gandhe, the smart lady on
board and the tech expert Hari. The other important character in the book is
Rupesh, who definitely has an interesting part to keep the story afloat. Apart
from these there was a generous sprinkle of other characters named Munna and
Nimboo baba, which came across more like clichéd Bollywood characters. Amidst all these characters is the Attorney
General Nalin D’souza who shows off his sophistication and charisma on all the
women he meets.
The story kicks off with the murder of a foreign national followed
by more murders. The murderer fancies killing women by strangling them with a
yellow garrote as he leaves clues in the form of props. The story takes you on
a Mumbai darshan all along. Private India takes its job seriously of finding
the person responsible for all the mayhem and amidst all this ends up foiling a
terror attack. In short, this was a sub-plot
that was stashed along with the main story.
I didn’t really think that was necessary though.
While the main story is woven decently and keeps one guessing, the
end felt like a damp squib. The story could have been better, mediocre use of
English was another let down. Some extremely Bollywoodish style cheesy lines
like "You bastard, what are you thinking? Why are you messing with my
head?" was more than annoying.
The narrative was decent, but fell flat at a few points. The
Mujahideen angle and the reference to the Criminal tribes seemed unnecessary
and for a moment made me lose interest. However, the way the motive of the
murderer was disclosed and the connection with the props seemed apt and well
written. While the story took great trouble in portraying the issue of
transgenders and transsexuals, it didn’t really do justice to it.
With 116 chapters and 460 pages, this book was a concoction of
drama, suspense, some generous amounts of history and mythology which in the
end made up a thriller which is worth reading once.
Ratings:
What’s hot:
A powerful starting storyline which then takes its readers across
Mumbai as more murders happen.
What’s not:
Two awesome authors co-authoring a book which falls slack at a lot
of instances.
Final Verdict:
All in all a book, which will make a good Bollywood thriller.
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
