Review: Remember Death: An Arjun Arora Mystery

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Remember Death: An Arjun Arora Mystery Remember Death: An Arjun Arora Mystery by Ankush Saikia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Never trust a man who doesn't drink.

Winston Churchill

I like an old style thriller cum murder mystery. A private eye is an time tetesed hero for this kind of novel.

Arjun Arora is an ex Indian Army office turned private eye. His personal life is in doldrums but he is good at his job. Vikas, a mysterious man comes to him with a case for which he has to come to Mumbai. He goes there and meets Vishwanath who gives him twice his fee to trace a girl Agnes Pereira who is a murder suspect. What happens next?

The book takes you to different parts of India: Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Himachal, Lucknow .. the journey is defined in details and the suspense is uncovered slowly. He has vey few clues to work on: a photos and pair of earrings.

The story spans a long time from British India to modern period. It covers Bollywood, politics, cricket betting, fake swamis, tawaifs and much more. The descriptions are vivid and most of the links are made.

However, the initial 2/3rd of the book is slow and could have been shortened. the book took a long time to come to the point and real action. I would have preferred early action.

Slight Spoiler: I was wondering throughout that Arjun took law into his own hand many times. Is it justified? More importantly he got away with it too easily which is improbable.

Anyway a very good book by Ankush. Highly recommended. 4/5 stars.

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