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wjreadsbooks 's review for:
The Secret Keeper of Jaipur
by Alka Joshi
I enjoyed the first book in the series, [b:The Henna Artist|50607466|The Henna Artist (The Henna Artist, #1)|Alka Joshi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1588690086l/50607466._SX50_.jpg|63995554], and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur came out around the same time so I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, while I thought that Lakshmi's story in the preceding book was interesting, I didn't find that this story worked for me. In my view, it felt a little like Alka Joshi was trying her best to wrangle Malik and Nimmi into the narrative here and that both of these characters were underbaked and rather flat. I'd much rather have read a story with either Malik and Nimmi as narrators or one involving Lakshmi separately.
With The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, Malik has grown up from the mischievous street urchin that he used to be to become a well-polished young man, having been gently reared in boarding schools. Malik has also fallen for a young widow, Nimmi, with two young children of her own - a less than ideal choice in Lakshmi's view. Nimmi is equally grateful of Lakshmi's kindness to her children and resentful of her decision to send Malik away to intern at the Jaipur Royal Palace's Facilities Office, in a way that she recognises is designed to get her out of the way.
Meanwhile, Malik's summer internship at Jaipur initially begins quietly enough as he rotates through various boring departments in Jaipur. However, everything changes when the unveiling of a brand-new cinema, intended to be a crowning jewel of Jaipur, doesn't go as planned. The balcony of the cinema collapses, causing a massive tragedy and an investigation is triggered into the Facilities Office to uncover the reason behind the balcony's collapse. While Malik is constantly told not to probe further into the case, he believes that there's more than meets the eye with the cinema's construction
Nimmi and Lakshmi run into some trouble of their own, as Nimmi accidentally uncovers a secret illicit smuggling ring in Shimla, which brings danger to all of them.
The part that I found contrived is how Joshi eventually decides to weave the two separate plot strands together.
With The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, Malik has grown up from the mischievous street urchin that he used to be to become a well-polished young man, having been gently reared in boarding schools. Malik has also fallen for a young widow, Nimmi, with two young children of her own - a less than ideal choice in Lakshmi's view. Nimmi is equally grateful of Lakshmi's kindness to her children and resentful of her decision to send Malik away to intern at the Jaipur Royal Palace's Facilities Office, in a way that she recognises is designed to get her out of the way.
Meanwhile, Malik's summer internship at Jaipur initially begins quietly enough as he rotates through various boring departments in Jaipur. However, everything changes when the unveiling of a brand-new cinema, intended to be a crowning jewel of Jaipur, doesn't go as planned. The balcony of the cinema collapses, causing a massive tragedy and an investigation is triggered into the Facilities Office to uncover the reason behind the balcony's collapse. While Malik is constantly told not to probe further into the case, he believes that there's more than meets the eye with the cinema's construction
Nimmi and Lakshmi run into some trouble of their own, as Nimmi accidentally uncovers a secret illicit smuggling ring in Shimla, which brings danger to all of them.
The part that I found contrived is how Joshi eventually decides to weave the two separate plot strands together.