James Patterson is an International phenomenon when it comes
to writing entertaining novels. There are no 2 ways about that fact. And Ashwin
Sanghi, the bestselling author of the Chanakya's Chant, The Rosabel Line and
The Krishna Key, knows his way around words. So when these 2 decided to join
hands and give life to Patterson’s latest novel, Private India, everyone
expected fireworks, shock and surprise that suspense novels generally promise.
Sadly, the Private India doesn’t live up to those promises and underwhelms at a
lot of places. It is a good story, but it lacks punch that can make it a knockout.
The story though is very well researched and has a decently good structure, but
it just doesn’t have the hooks to that can sink into you to make you go back to
it again or rather sit down and finish it in one setting.
Let’s start at the beginning. Private India is the 8th
novel in the Private India series. Co-written by James Patterson and Ashwin
Sanghi, the novel starts with a series of unconnected murders taking place all
over the Mumbai and Santosh Wagh and
his teammates that form to be Private India – one of the world’s best detective
agency - have to try and catch the killer before chaos ensues.
Santosh as the protagonist of the story has a nicely developed
background. As you read, you’ll see how Wagh deals with the loss of the wife
and son; by drinking his sorrows away. But that doesn’t slow him down. He is
fully functional alcoholic – functional being the key word - and committed to
his job, earning the trust and respect of Nisha Gandhe - the super attractive assistant to
Wagh. Together with the help of Mubeen
- the medical examiner and Hari - the
tech guru, they try to nail down the killer who is killing woman in a seemingly
unrelated pattern.
As the story moves forward you get to see how the police seek
Private India’s help in trying to understand the motive behind the murders. The
book deals with a lot of subjects like religion, child abuse, prostitution, corruption
and many others that will make you think deeply about the sorry state of
affairs currently happening in what is called the business capital of India –
Mumbai.
The novel moves in a steady rhythm as we are introduced to
one of the core characters of the series - Jack Morgan – the founder of Private
detective agency all over the world. We read about his connection with one of
the victims and how he is looked upon as a suspect. The later part of the story
sees Santosh and Jack make intelligent assumptions about the killer’s motives
and then track the killer down to learn what made him do it.
The climax is good as it may mildly surprise you, but the
novel lacks lots of things. Language, for example, is very simple and easily
understandable, but it feels more like someone explaining a science experiment,
and not in a very exciting way. The parts that I really did not like was the
assistant commissioner of police asking some really silly questions that made
me question ‘How did this guy become the commissioner in the first place?’. The
action sequences in the novel are top notch and some back stories of secondary
characters are nicely developed.
I give it 2.5 stars.
If you are up for a long train journey then pick this book up and you will be surprised
to read the climax, but the language can be a bit of a downer as it feels too
simple. Give it a go, but don’t expect it to blow your mind.
