Six Suspects
Vikas Swarup
Minotaur, Jul 7 2009, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312605032
In Delhi, India, Vivek (Vicky) Rai is acquitted of a particularly vicious murder that he probably committed. His father Home Minister of Uttar Pradash Jagannath throws his son a victory party, but someone obviously objected to the acquittal by killing Vicky.
The Delhi police find six viable suspects. The Bureaucrat former Chief Secretary Mohan Kumar would do anything to obtain money and women and not necessarily in that order. The Bollywood Actress “celluloid goddess” Shabnam Saxena is hot on the screen, but rejected Vicky’s efforts for heat off the screen. Stone Age Tribal Eketi Onge is one of the last people from a dying tribe being engulfed by civilization even with their home island somewhat isolated. The Thief Munna Mobile makes his living stealing cell-phones and whatever gizmos he can purloin. The Politician leader of Uttar Pradesh is reverently titled Bhaiyyaji but known to the victim as dad. The American preferring the moniker Texan Larry Page has come to marry his Internet order bride Sapna Singh though he learns in new Delhi the pictures he was sent is that of Bollywood’s “Celluloid Goddess”.
This is a fun Indian whodunit that lampoons Agatha Christie through a format that has readers wondering if a New Delhi Hercule Poirot will arrive at the last moment to inform the audience who killed Vicky and why. The story line is fast-paced though events are reiterated since perspectives rotate. Fans will enjoy this terrific look at modern day India through the lens of a satirical murder investigation though no lead investigator actually steps forward with the Q and A.
Harriet Klausner
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