The Story
A woman is found dead under
mysterious circumstances in a hotel room. Santosh Wagh the head honcho of
Private India is called upon to solve the murder case along with Mumbai Police.
By the time Wagh and his team of experts make any progress on the case another
lady is found murdered with similar tell tale signs left by the killer. Before
the police or Private investigators can crack anything a serial killer is on
the loose and corpses keep piling up across the city. The only common link
found across all murders is all victims are women and they are being garroted in
the same pattern. The killer leaves signs with every corpse through props but
the investigating team cannot pick up his mind. After the murders of a pop
star, a film actress, a politician, a judge and a yoga guru the killer’s next
victim is one of Privates investigator Nisha. A walk during the Navratri
celebrations and a trip to the Asiatic Society library throws a good amount of
light on the clues left by the killer. Can Santosh and his team of experts
including Jack Morgan, the ex-marine and Private Inc head, solve the puzzle?
Can they hunt down the killer before he garrotes Nisha?
My Thoughts
Knowing Ashwin Sanghi’s pervious
works I was quite aware the plot will have a reference to religion and
mythology. Here however, it’s a mix of ancient mythology, modern day
corruption, terrorism, medical advancement et all. The story almost has two
plots (which probably was not required). You have this eccentric killer who
leaves his victims garroted and tied to props and then you have the ISI plotting
to take down Private India. You get all the usual masala from mafias, to religious babas, a corrupt police officer. The
plot started off quite well with the murders building up. If you know your
mythology well you will get to decipher the clues from the second murder on. I
like the way Ashwin intertwines mythology and religion in his works. There are
subplots and characters to distract you from zeroing in on the killer, though
the killer is present in day light.
But what I didn’t get was the
need of the track of the ISI and a terrorist attack alongside. It was okay
without it. That is also true for the climax – actually you have two climaxes
for the two tracks. This distraction could have been avoided.
Coming to characterizations –
Santosh Wagh, the protagonist is an ex- RAW agent who now is the head of
Private India. He is weird but brilliant guy trying to cope with his drinking
problem and memories of his deceased wife and son. We see the plot unfold
through his eyes. Rupesh, the corrupt police officer’s character looks little
odd to me, the way he sees and imagines the victims’ corpses. The villain
however, in interesting and his way of killing is interesting too. Now I don’t want
to mention all the characters and give out the story. Jack Morgan, however, was finding it hard to fitted here but how can we have a Private book without him?
Things that I liked: The thrill of murders, the clues left by the
killer, the sophistication of the forensic science, sequence at the Tower of Silence. I somehow liked the killer
more than anything else. Yes I like these dark stuffs.
About the author:
James Patterson is a well known
name in the thriller genre and is the best-seller author for the Private
series, Alex Cross series, Women’s Murder Club series and many more. This is
his first collaboration with any Indian author. 
Ashwin Sanghi on the other hand
is a well-known Indian author who specializes in mixing mythology and Hinduism
in his thrillers. Some of his noted works are The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s
Chant, The Krishna Key. I had reviewed The Krishna Key earlier and you could
read it here. Here he does a good job in building up the murders and the
references to mythology.
My rating: I would give 4 out of 5. Overall it was a good
weekend read. The book is fat enough for the weekend but I somehow finished it
in a day and a half because I liked the murder descriptions!
Book – Private India
Author – Ashwin Sanghi & James Patterson
Genre – Fiction, Thriller
Publisher – Random House India
Published in – July 2014
ISBN-13 -
ISBN-10 - 0099586398
Pages – 448
Format - Paperback
Price - 350 flipkart has a good discount though
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