Chills, spills & thrills

First, a confession. I have not read many— perhaps, any crime fiction books written by Indian authors. This was not due to a deliberate setting up of boundaries; nor a manifestation of a snooty, dismissive attitude. It was as simply a matter of remaining within one’s own circle of comfort. Having been raised since childhood, first on Enid Blyton’s adventure series, later on Nancy Drew; then graduating to Agatha Christie and other British crime writers and from there on spreading one’s wings to taken in American, European, Scandinavian, and authors from other countries, the Indian continent and its contingent of crime writers remained, sadly, unexplored. Like a distant place one keeps promising oneself to visit.

So, when I was asked to review not one, but three books by three different Indian authors, it was as if a new universe had swung into my ken. One, which I was eager to discover. On the whole, one must say that the experience has been rewarding. What is common to all three is that they are not awkward renderings; but are all competently written. However, there are differences as well. Sultan of Delhi – Ascension traces the rise of Arjun Bhatia from being a small time arms dealer and a minor member of a gang, to a rich and respected power broker in Delhi. The story predictably goes through the paces – friendship, love, betrayal, family, and so on. There have been those Arjun Bhatia has betrayed with a deathly result. But the final and for him the most destructive betrayal comes from within his family. In many ways, the book is like a Bollywood film. So far, we have had seen books made into films. This is a book which the author seems to be transcribing from some film which is playing in his mind. Or from the memory of an amalgamation of several B-grade films.

Both Shot, Down and Saboteur deal with contemporary themes and settings. While the former takes you into the chilling world of terrorism; the latter is all about the modern digital world of ecommerce, flavoured with the age-old viciousness of corporate battles.

Shot, Down – yes with a comma after Shot, for that is the pet name of a Vishal Deshmukh around whom the book is woven, in a manner of speaking – begins with a road accident involving a truck which accidently reveals the hidden contents of its cargo – which, though not named at the time one can assume is the weaponry of terrorists – grenades and incendiary material, one learns later.

The next thing we know is that Vishal’s, or Shot’s body has been found on the railway tracks and his long estranged brother, Ajay comes to the morgue to identify the body. Various suspicious circumstances lead Ajay to question the police version that his brother has died as a result of an accident or suicide after pumping himself with alcohol and drugs. He begins a journey to uncover the truth.

The author tells the stories of Vishal (Shot), his world and how he got drawn into dangerous waters; and of his elder brother Ajay who traverses the path to

understand the truth. The book is also peppered with Ajay’s angst as he grapples with the estrangement from, and dwells on the relationship with his younger brother – the ultimate tragedy of being too late to put things right. E-commerce, the world in which Saboteur is set, is hardly an unknown quantity to readers, whether young or middleaged. What is less known is that the gleeful abandoned shopping by buyers who get wow deals come at a price – for the e-tailers. For every one rupee earned, the digital platform incurrs a loss of Rs. 2.50, we are told. This is the bitter truth, well known to analysts, venture capitalists and of course the purveyors of e-commerce themselves . In reality, sometimes the losses are even higher.

Saboteur explores this high pressure world so dependent on ever-needed inflows of financing to keep the businesses afloat. It is the story of the successful venture MyMagicHat, set up by an old and established business family – the Purarias – and the brainchild of a scion of the family, Gautam.

But the book is about more than the financial ups and downs of an e-commerce business. It is the story of fraud, intrigue, deceit, betrayal and murder. As MyMagicHat is poised on the brink of developing a new secret project, it finds itself the target of industrial espionage and much more.

Interestingly, the author, RV Raman – also the author of Fraudster and Insider – was the erstwhile head of KPMG’s Consulting Practice and the co-head of their Risk Advisory Services. He has also been a Partner at A.T. Kearney and Arthur Andersen. He is no stranger then, to the world of corporate reality.

It is this intimate knowledge, combined with an imaginative sweep, that lends

Saboteur a special sharp tang.