Private India is a thrilling suspense novel from two masters of the art: Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson.
Summary of the Book
When a series of seemingly unconnected murders rock the city of Mumbai with the macabre rituals and artefacts found around the corpses, Private India, a leading investigation agency takes the case. Santosh Wagh, the head of the organization, has only one mission. He needs to stop the killers before they strike again. However, in a city of over 13 million people, he finds that the clock is ticking too fast. He finds himself pitted against underworld dons and a Godman who isn’t what he seems. However, the worst is yet to come and Private India itself may be threatened with a revelation that could destroy the entire organization.
About the Authors
Ashwin Sanghi is an Indian writer and entrepreneur. He has also written: Chanakya’s Chant and The Krishna Key. He is also known by his pseudonym: Shawn Haigins.
A graduate of the Yale School of Management and St. Xavier’s College, he has since been awarded several acclaims for his work. His second book has been optioned for a movie by UTV and is expected to begin production soon. He currently lives in Mumbai with his loving family.
James Patterson is a bestselling American writer. He is best known for Along Came a Spider, Jack & Jill, When the Wind Blows and Step on a Crack among over 100 others.
MY REVIEW
Starting off with a promising note, Private India tries to do so very much in itself. The start to the book is phenomenal and I turned my pages quickly trying to gobble up more and more of this thriller that was supposed to keep me on the edge of my seat. Alas!! That was not happened. Reading Ashwin’s previous books, The Krishna Key and The Rosabel Line, I was coming in with great expectations of this book. Although the author tries and often successfully, the plot does leave a bit hungry at the end. The various series of murders and the clues along with them are written so as to generate this air of a great age thriller that will leave you gasping for air. With a stale plot, the authors fail to deliver what was promised. Mixing the Indian Mythology along with the murders, was something I did not expect and did bring a certain amount of freshness into the story. It clearly shows that the authors have done their research and they have done a good job doing that, but the essence of it wasn’t portrayed perfectly. Apart from the loose plot and the shoddy details regarding the police infrastructure as well as the technology being used, it also looks as if it has heavily borrowed from the long time running crime-show on a national television channel. Though Ashwin Sanghi is one of the Indians who absolutely nails down the thriller fictions, Private India is a let down. The real Ashwin Sanghi, whom I have come to love was missing from the words of this book. Grammatical errors on pages 211 and 393 could have been avoided, and the murder on page 117 should have dealt a blow to the reader instead of being the cold scene it was. Anyway, all in all the book did also have a few good points, intertwining government officials and the other murder scenarios are really good to the core and quite enjoyable indeed. Yet Private India just does not give you the goosebumps a thriller should, it does not make glue you to the chair, it makes you yawn (23 times during the whole course of the book) and it definitely does not leave you with a void one feels, when one finishes a great book.
Overall, I give Private India a 2.5 on ratings out of 5.
Ashwin Sanghi – You are a brilliant author. There is no doubt about that. Keep dishing out thrillers, you’ll always have a reader in me.
PS: I thank Blogadda.com personally for offering me the opportunity to review this book.
impressions..!! 