Book Review: The Company Red by Shantanu Dhar

I have already mentioned here I somehow always get pulled to a thriller book like a magnet every time I go to a bookstore. On one such shopping spree I picked up this book whose synopsis looked promising as well as its blood splattered cover. [It’s not that I look at the cover and pick up a book though].

Set in the backdrop of the capital City of Delhi it is a story about a fatherless son Ardhendu Bose and his survival through rough times with a supernatural twist. Dhar falls back to his Bengali roots and pens the characters of ‘probashi bangali’ (non-resident/ migrant Bengalis) well.

The middle class Ardhendu is singlehandedly raised by his professor mother after the death of his father. She manages to send him to only a B-grade business school but he manages to land up in his dream job in one of the largest life Sciences company RED. Things look extremely easy for him as he starts climbing the ladder and becomes the favorite of his boss Colton White but before he knows he finds himself trapped between the blood-sucking parasites. Let me not spoil more by giving out more details of these parasites!   

The fight for the survival & the climax is very Bollywoodish.

What I liked

The dark & sinister tale is quite contemporary & urban. Very unusual for an Indian author though. But when you have series after series of Twilights and Underworlds this doesn’t come as a surprise. Dhar has penned some brilliant descriptions of the narrow lanes of Delhi. I quite liked his simple writing style.

What I didn’t

The book starts of off promisingly but I felt it fell flat with its predictability in the latter half. Some parts are quite clichéd. I felt it has been written like a screenplay with the fact in mind that it will be turned into a film someday. [Well the book says it will be in motion picture soon]. When you are about to imagine a play of emotions the sudden twists and revelations goes off track.

I read up about the author before writing this post, you too can read here. It’s his first book, so as a newcomer I think it’s a good thriller at places. But I am not sure how the sequels are going to be as I hear he is planning a trilogy!

My Thought – You can read it as a time pass simple read, but don’t expect a Robert Ludlum experience.