Book Review: Seduced by Murder by Saurbh Katyal

Book Name:Seduced by Murder

Author: Saurbh Katyal

Publisher: Bluejay Books Pvt. Ltd.

Pages: 268

Price: Rs. 195/-

(Image Courtesy:Google)

Saurbh Katyal’s Seduced by Murder felt like an amateur’s attempt at writing a thriller that is both disappointing and lackluster Never judge a book by its cover? Well this definitely doesn't hold true in this case. With a poor plot (and an even poorer book cover), trust me when I say I would never have bought this book had I gone to the store. The characters are clichéd and Inspector Babu is downright silly. Vishal Bajaj is a private detective, who definitely isn't your average pot-bellied, bald investigator but doesn't deviate much from the hard drinking, troubled pollster with a murky past. With nothing remarkable about the protagonist to keep you hooked to his exploits, you look atleast for a story-line that might keep you riveted to the tediously boring two hundred and sixty eight pages. But the book disappoints on both fronts and you look for reasons to not finish the book midway.

The story begins at the Hunt Detective Agency when Vishal Bajaj receives a call from his old flame Aditi. Her husband’s elder brother Anil is found murdered in his hammock at the farmhouse and Vishal Bajaj is called in to investigate the case. Therein begins a mystery that is both dull and uninteresting. As Vishal delves deep into family secrets, deceit and lies he discovers truths that threaten to rip apart the family and scandals, that when exposed, could take the media by storm. To top it all, Vishal desperately fights his desire for Aditi, a selfish, promiscuous character who finds it difficult to make up her mind and thrives beneath limelight and attention. 

However, Paras Kapoor and his sons up the expectation-quotient by a considerable notch and make for interesting characters to read. The Kapoors are twisted, exciting characters who guard family secrets viciously and keep you questioning their motives at every turn. The complications and turmoil within the brothers, mysterious dealings and shady secrets are only revealed towards the end of the book and a certain build up of the character of the murderer would have made for an exciting read.

Katyal succeeds in keeping the readers guessing as to the identity of the killer but disappoints throughout the story. Better plot with a better build up and yet better suspense to thrill could have made the book work. As it is, there are way too many buts and the book as a thriller falls flat on its face. I would definitely recommend no reader to waste their time reading such a book and even if you do so, do not read the book with hopes that the story might get better with the turn of the pages. 

Verdict: If you are willing to risk it!

Rating: 2/5

(I received a copy of the book from the author for reviewing. All views are my own.)

Book Review: Private India

Book Name: Private India
Author- Ashwin Sanghi & James Patterson
Publisher: Arrow Books
Pages:470

Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson’s Mumbai thriller Private India got my senses excited the moment I ripped apart the package enclosing the book and disclosed the cover. With a backdrop of the famous Gateway of India and the all glamorous Taj overlooking the city and Private India screaming out in bold orange, the book proudly claims ‘It’s the season for murder in Mumbai’. But inspite of the promising start, the book felt intensely ‘Bollywood’ and a little too exaggerated at times.

The story begins in the Marine Bay Plaza where a Thai doctor is found murdered in her room with a bright yellow scarf around her neck.  Investigation agency Private India is called in to investigate the matter and therein begins a series of gruesome murders across Mumbai. A serial killer who deems fit to leave behind props as message and a yellow scarf around the neck of his victims, all his targets unsurprisingly women. Is the deranged psychopath a loner who kills only for the thrill or is he an integral part of a bigger scenario that threatens to rip apart Mumbai in its wake?

The book grips your attention as the investigation continues, unveiling mind boggling connections to weave a thriller that explores the troubled minds of both the predator and the prey. On one hand is Santosh Wagh, the chief detective of Private India, who battles his own demons to fight for a cause that threatens his own sanity and on the other, the victims whose double lives hide hideous truths that may have unknowingly endangered their own lives and those of others. The plot goes much beyond the killer to delve into the murky underworld of Mumbai where drug trafficking, bootlegging and prostitution thrive under the powerful Munna and his ally, the spiritual master Nimboo Baba. Santosh's hot protégée Nisha Gandhe, the forensic expert Mubeen, the tech wizard Hari have their own stories to tell along with the troubled cop Rupesh. But what fascinated me most from the very beginning were the strange objects that the murderer left behind with every corpse, carefully arranged to deliver a message that is both intriguing and startling at the same time. The book unquestionably delivers on its promise, keeping you hooked to the pages, but disappoints drastically in the end.

The ending is too dramatic and as I have already mentioned before-‘intensely Bollywood’. It felt like watching those highly exaggerated action sequences of films where the hero single-handedly battles the villain and his numerous goons to emerge victorious against all odds. The writers try to cramp in too much into the plot- murder, corruption, glamour, terrorism, the Mumbai underworld, religion- in short everything that is necessary to make a successful Bollywood flick and that is where the book ends up disappointing the reader. Haven’t we already had enough of those? What we want is a writer to break tradition and portray India (here Mumbai) beyond the image it has so unconsciously harboured for itself over the years. Yes, the murderer shall definitely stay etched on my mind for a while and so will the troubled Santosh Wagh. But Private India as a thriller shall fade from my memory eventually.

With the quality of books thriving in the Indian market, Private India is absolutely a notch over them and do read it for the killer shall keep you immensely entertained. I look forward to reading other books by Patterson and Sanghi for both the writers are skilled story-tellers. But ofcourse, no co-authored works please. The handling of the plot gets eventually messy when writers collaborate on books. The characters of Private India are clichéd, the storyline sloppy but one fine murderer is all it takes to make a book work!

 Verdict- A fascinating killer who keeps your senses hooked? Worth a read right?

Rating: 3/5

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