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A review by crazygoangirl
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I received this book as a Secret Santa gift exchange from the Book Club, I belonged to. I don’t know who gave it to me, but I’m grateful ☺️
This is the first in the Sam Wyndham series by Abir Mukherjee set in 1919 in Calcutta, During the British Raj. Sam has come to India to escape his own personal demons - the after effects of fighting in the trenches in the Great War; the tragic death of his wife Sarah while he was away at war and his addiction to opiates as a result of injuries suffered during that war. He’s unhappy, cynical and very much a fish out of water in the hot, humid and altogether chaotic environment of Calcutta.
He has come as a new recruit in the Imperial Police that are in charge of maintaining law and order in the great city and is immediately immersed in the brutal murder of an Englishman - his body found in an alley in the native part of Calcutta with his throat slit. With his associates, another policeman & Englishman Digby and the unlikely erudite sergeant Surendranath (christened Surrender-not by Digby) Banerjee, Wyndham must navigate not only the dark alleys of Black Town Calcutta but also the intricately convoluted connections between different branches of British law enforcement and civil administration, a task that he often finds perplexing and annoying, not being the patient sort.
I enjoyed Mukherjee’s writing, especially the detailed and atmospheric descriptions of both the physical and cultural mores of Calcutta. The city comes alive and serves as a richly textured and complex background for the events that occur. His characters too are layered and nuanced with several shades of grey. There is no good versus evil here, but a very realistic portrayal of human strength and frailty with conflicting opinions, compromise and even surrender. The relationship between Sam and Surrender-not, the cornerstone of the series, is skilfully etched, progressing from British boss—native subordinate to roommates and the beginnings of a tenuous friendship and nebulous camaraderie.
This was a wholly immersive reading experience for me and had similar vibes to Vaseem Khan’s Malabar House series, especially with regard to the atmospheric narration. This felt grittier and darker though and there were times when it was hard for me to read about how the British treated Indians. Sam is no angel and his attitude toward the natives is very ambivalent in the true British fashion of the times, his conversations with Benoy Sen being a perfect example. Jallianwala is in this book and it made my blood boil to read it from the British perspective. The pacing was rather sketchy in my opinion, with a strong beginning, a rather long and meandering middle section and a fast-paced climax.
On the whole though, great historical crime fiction, very well written and an extremely engaging read. Another promising series added to my ever growing TBR!
This is the first in the Sam Wyndham series by Abir Mukherjee set in 1919 in Calcutta, During the British Raj. Sam has come to India to escape his own personal demons - the after effects of fighting in the trenches in the Great War; the tragic death of his wife Sarah while he was away at war and his addiction to opiates as a result of injuries suffered during that war. He’s unhappy, cynical and very much a fish out of water in the hot, humid and altogether chaotic environment of Calcutta.
He has come as a new recruit in the Imperial Police that are in charge of maintaining law and order in the great city and is immediately immersed in the brutal murder of an Englishman - his body found in an alley in the native part of Calcutta with his throat slit. With his associates, another policeman & Englishman Digby and the unlikely erudite sergeant Surendranath (christened Surrender-not by Digby) Banerjee, Wyndham must navigate not only the dark alleys of Black Town Calcutta but also the intricately convoluted connections between different branches of British law enforcement and civil administration, a task that he often finds perplexing and annoying, not being the patient sort.
I enjoyed Mukherjee’s writing, especially the detailed and atmospheric descriptions of both the physical and cultural mores of Calcutta. The city comes alive and serves as a richly textured and complex background for the events that occur. His characters too are layered and nuanced with several shades of grey. There is no good versus evil here, but a very realistic portrayal of human strength and frailty with conflicting opinions, compromise and even surrender. The relationship between Sam and Surrender-not, the cornerstone of the series, is skilfully etched, progressing from British boss—native subordinate to roommates and the beginnings of a tenuous friendship and nebulous camaraderie.
This was a wholly immersive reading experience for me and had similar vibes to Vaseem Khan’s Malabar House series, especially with regard to the atmospheric narration. This felt grittier and darker though and there were times when it was hard for me to read about how the British treated Indians. Sam is no angel and his attitude toward the natives is very ambivalent in the true British fashion of the times, his conversations with Benoy Sen being a perfect example. Jallianwala is in this book and it made my blood boil to read it from the British perspective. The pacing was rather sketchy in my opinion, with a strong beginning, a rather long and meandering middle section and a fast-paced climax.
On the whole though, great historical crime fiction, very well written and an extremely engaging read. Another promising series added to my ever growing TBR!