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rbharath 's review for:
One Arranged Murder
by Chetan Bhagat
If you have read Chetan Bhagat’s books, at least in terms of style, you pretty much know what to expect – mainly a light read. In this book, as is usual, a lot of things are average – the character development, the plot, the motive, the writing..but the story moves fast and this is a book you can relax with.
Keshav and friend Saurabh work for a Cyber Security firm, while running an investigation agency on the side. The lease on the flat they stay together is ending and they are due to go their separate ways. Their relationship has been strained in the recent past. Saurabh is engaged to Prerna. It is ‘Karva Chauth’ (when wives fast till they sight the moon), and Prerna decides to fast for her fiancé and is waiting for Saurabh to arrive, so that she can break her fast. The back door is left open and Saurabh races to the terrace and finds no one there. He hears some commotion down below, and finds Prerna lying dead. Prerna stays in a joint family, and her dad Ramesh has a successful business. While it is possible that Prerna fell to her death accidentally, the police also think foul play is a possibility. There are a number of characters who Keshav and Saurabh speak to – Prerna’s dad Ramesh & his wife Neelam, her aunt Bindu, her uncle Adi, her grandmother, her cousin Anjali, Prerna’s ex-boyfriend Neeraj, to understand what could have happened.
The story itself is decent, though I could see where the story is going near about 40%. The sleuthing is amateur (including some silly stuff - consider that the two manage to coax the family to allow them to stay in the house under some lame pretext), motive passable and there is a touch of drama, probably in the hope that this can be made into a film. After all, many of us are more forgiving of logic and realism in movies than in books.
Take this up as a book you can relax with – possibly in between heavier reads.
Keshav and friend Saurabh work for a Cyber Security firm, while running an investigation agency on the side. The lease on the flat they stay together is ending and they are due to go their separate ways. Their relationship has been strained in the recent past. Saurabh is engaged to Prerna. It is ‘Karva Chauth’ (when wives fast till they sight the moon), and Prerna decides to fast for her fiancé and is waiting for Saurabh to arrive, so that she can break her fast. The back door is left open and Saurabh races to the terrace and finds no one there. He hears some commotion down below, and finds Prerna lying dead. Prerna stays in a joint family, and her dad Ramesh has a successful business. While it is possible that Prerna fell to her death accidentally, the police also think foul play is a possibility. There are a number of characters who Keshav and Saurabh speak to – Prerna’s dad Ramesh & his wife Neelam, her aunt Bindu, her uncle Adi, her grandmother, her cousin Anjali, Prerna’s ex-boyfriend Neeraj, to understand what could have happened.
The story itself is decent, though I could see where the story is going near about 40%. The sleuthing is amateur (including some silly stuff - consider that the two manage to coax the family to allow them to stay in the house under some lame pretext), motive passable and there is a touch of drama, probably in the hope that this can be made into a film. After all, many of us are more forgiving of logic and realism in movies than in books.
Take this up as a book you can relax with – possibly in between heavier reads.