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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
informative
fast-paced
Cannot wait to read Abir Mukherjee's next book. Great characterisations and compelling story.
A really well-written mystery. The pre-independence Kolkata comes alive. It is good to take a look at the Indian independence struggle from the other side.
I honestly just found this kind of boring, this is the 2nd time I've attempted to read it and while I actually finished it this time, I didn't really find it that enjoyable. I'm not a huge mystery/crime reader but I thought the time period and setting might make this interesting to me. Maybe people who like crime/mystery books with a classic feeling will like this one.
Trigger warnings: murder, racism, slut shaming, colonialism, gun violence, apparent suicide.
This was a little slow to start, but it was SUCH a compelling story that I was hooked to my Kindle from start to finish. It's set in Calcutta in 1919. After returning to England from the First World War injured and with an addiction to opiates to find his wife dead of the Spanish Flu, Sam Wyndham decides to take up a position with the police department in Calcutta. Shortly after his arrival, an Englishman is found dead, and Sam is handed the investigation.
There was SO much fascinating stuff in this story. It's set at a time of increasing political turmoil, increasing tension between the Indian population and the British colonial powers. There's a lot of super creepy manipulation of the population in ways they don't even realise, including but not limited to putting maps of England and India side by side with no scale so that everyone assumes they're the same size.
Sam is a deeply flawed character. His offsider is Sergeant Banerjee, known to the white population as "Surrender-Not Banerjee", because they can't pronounce his first name. Banerjee is a delight, and I honestly wish the story had been at least partly from his perspective.
On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this. The mystery kept me guessing, the characters were great, and it was a compelling read that reminded me of Lyndsay Faye's Timothy Wilde books. All in all, I'd call it a win.
This was a little slow to start, but it was SUCH a compelling story that I was hooked to my Kindle from start to finish. It's set in Calcutta in 1919. After returning to England from the First World War injured and with an addiction to opiates to find his wife dead of the Spanish Flu, Sam Wyndham decides to take up a position with the police department in Calcutta. Shortly after his arrival, an Englishman is found dead, and Sam is handed the investigation.
There was SO much fascinating stuff in this story. It's set at a time of increasing political turmoil, increasing tension between the Indian population and the British colonial powers. There's a lot of super creepy manipulation of the population in ways they don't even realise, including but not limited to putting maps of England and India side by side with no scale so that everyone assumes they're the same size.
Sam is a deeply flawed character. His offsider is Sergeant Banerjee, known to the white population as "Surrender-Not Banerjee", because they can't pronounce his first name. Banerjee is a delight, and I honestly wish the story had been at least partly from his perspective.
On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this. The mystery kept me guessing, the characters were great, and it was a compelling read that reminded me of Lyndsay Faye's Timothy Wilde books. All in all, I'd call it a win.
The descriptions of colonial Calcutta in 1919 provide the real interest in this rather obvious and convenient murder-mystery, but if you can forgive the characters’ frequently anachronistic language and dubious motivations, it’s not a bad read.
This is a generous 4 - more like a 3.5 - but I appreciated the characters and the setting. Will be interested in the second one.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fantastic mystery set in a time and place (1919 Calcutta) that is a fun and different option for a detective story. The writing is incredibly strong. Definitely planning to read more in this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Murder
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Police brutality, Abortion