Book Review #11 : Private India

Authors: Ashwin Sanghi, James Patterson

Publisher: Random House India

Category: Fiction

Genre: Crime Thriller

Number of Pages: 448

First look at the title and the cover and one can easily figure out that the book has thriller written all over it. But the catch is change in the setup which brings the Private series to our very own tinsel town Mumbai. The cover image giving the befitting start to the story.

The first thing I noticed about the book was that it was thick and had 470 pages and that it was signed by the author. Thanks to Blogadda!

Private India ticks all the boxes required for a thriller. Private India is not restricted to a main plot. It is wrapped up with the sights, sounds and smells of iconic places in Mumbai. It has detailed descriptions of advanced technologies used by Private India as well as explanations for complicated stuff like DNA evidence.

The main story is brilliant. The ending was least expected and unique in a way of its own. But the book is let down by its amateur execution. Some twists are straight out of Bollywood movies, the side plots and the language was equally disturbing.

Most of the book is a narrative, but the chapters involving the killer are in first person. It was distracting and disturbing at the same time. At times, it did not feel that it all was a part of the same book. Unnecessary angles take away the essence of the main story, which is a stand out in itself.

This book is a tedious read. It needs a lot of edits and could have easily been contained under 300 pages. I don't know how this co-authoring thing works, who writes what and whose ideas are prominent. But at the end of the day, this one sure is a  good book but with a good scope of improvement.

The book is fast paced and the chapters are just two or three pages long, which means every time you feel like putting the book down a little voice says: But the next chapter is just 3 pages! And so you continue and it takes immense self disciple to put down the book as you need to do some real world work too. The book is very easy to read as the large font size helps one to read faster!

Also along with the familiar streets of Mumbai, we see subtle glances of Indian Mythology weaved intricately into the story line, which was a first and interesting twist.

This is the first - and I sincerely do hope the last - co-authored book by Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson. Despite it being a page-turner, I am deeply unimpressed. There are innumerable horrendous bloopers that fill the book. These bloopers take the fun away, cause irritation - even while the story keeps you turning the pages. The net result is that as you complete the book, the normal satisfaction one has on reading a great book is absent.

The constant use of pejoratives and bad words is also totally unlike classic Sanghi, who by-and-large writes clean stuff. The explicit sexual scenes and pointless formulaic vulgarity add nothing to the story, and make for poor reading. These admittedly small points lessen the enjoyment of an otherwise fast-paced action thriller!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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