Review: Private India by James Patterson & Ashwin S

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Radhika_17
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Review: Private India by James Patterson & Ashwin S

Post by Radhika_17 »

Book Review – Private India

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” ~ Santosh Wagh, Chapter – 9

Author: James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi
Publisher: Arrow Books
Publication Year: 2014
ISBN: 9780099586395
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 470
Rating: 3.0/5

What would be better than a hot cup of coffee and a murder mystery to solve? Cherry on the cake - Its an Author signed copy! (Hurray!!) The adrenalin rushes through your body with every turn of events in the book, an obvious page turner. After laying my hands upon Sidney Sheldon’s, ‘Tell me your dreams’, I was excitedly waiting for the arrival of Private India, another spine-chiller. Here’s what I think of this action-packed thriller -

Plot - Carved as a partnership between James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi, 'Private India' is a thriller combining Patterson's love for fast-paced plots with Ashwin's love for history and mythology. The story is set in the backdrop of the country’s commercial capital, Mumbai. A series of murders of ostensibly unrelated people following the traditions of the uncanny murder cult, ‘Thugee’, causes havoc in the mind of Santosh Wagh, the chief of the Indian Bureau of Private India, the best detective agency in the country. A couple of trinkets left by the murderer with every victim are an add-on slipup. Santosh (an off-duty drunkard), with his team, Nisha Gandhe, ex member of CID, the tech wizard Hari Padhi, and the forensic expert Mubeen Yusuf is set on the trail of this vicious murderer. A flashback into the life of the protagonist, Santosh and his accomplices in the race of solving the crime creates a multiple story. ACP Rupesh joins hands with Santosh (once best friends) but an untold stiffness is evident between the two. The arrival of Jack Morgan, Santosh’s boss pulls a critical turn in the events. The suspects are few and the murders are unstoppable. Moreover, the festive season in the city of dreams is threatened by a terrorist attack on the ninth day of ‘Navratri’, the festival of worshipping Goddess Durga. The involvement of a fierce mafioso and a godman brews unnoticed trouble. Will Santosh Wagh be able to reach in time to save the city from another terror campaign and the shadowy killer? What made the best of friends to turn into enemies? What makes Santosh suspect his own crew? Who is to be trusted and who isn’t?

Pros:
· Completely unexpected twists
· Mumbai - Justified
· Short chapters
· Simple words
· Relatable

Cons:
· Overflow of characters
· Avoidable subplot
· Easily fathomable mystery
· Another Bollywood screenplay


Personal thoughts - James Patterson, the author of the best-selling ‘Private Series’, makes his part of the writing unfailingly recognisable. Ashwin Sanghi, yet again, fascinates his readers with an admirable mixture of history and fiction but his flair of writing is a little missed. I am a little disappointed with the seemingly exaggerated murder mystery but nevertheless, 'Private India' is an unputdownable and thrilling read from beginning to end. Thanks to *** for such an awesome opportunity. Looking forward to busting some more gripping reads! :)

Happy Reading!! :)
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Post by BookWorm07 »

I've been meaning to read some of Ashwin Sanghi's works for sometime now. Haven't been able to arouse enough interest though. This book sounds like a good place to start. Thanks for the review. :)
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Post by Radhika_17 »

BookWorm07 wrote:I've been meaning to read some of Ashwin Sanghi's works for sometime now. Haven't been able to arouse enough interest though. This book sounds like a good place to start. Thanks for the review. :)
This was my first read of Ashwin Sanghi! I've heard about his other bestsellers and I'm going to read Chanakya's Chant first.

I should say, since this isn't his book totally, u wont be able to admire his writing exclusively. Try any of his personal works too.

Cheers!
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BookWorm07
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Post by BookWorm07 »

I will. I've been meaning to get The Krishna key. But I have a huge 'to be read' list and this one wasn't high enough. :P
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Post by rvenkat »

To give an idea about the pace with which the story unfolds, I completed this 448 page story in just above 5 hours! Good-paced, and the plot is well laid out and planned, characters and their roles well defined.

Santosh, the central character of this story, is a lead-detective of a detective company called Private India, which investigates a series of killings in the bustling city of Mumbai. The attractive feature is the way the story develops, twists, and twirls around all the characters, and how each of them is intimately involved in the plot.

The story weaves on the different layers of the society, how police, underworld, politicians and the rich & famous of Mumbai think, feel and act, and gives a glimpse of the complex interactions between them.

When I started reading the initial chapters, I was worried that the narration would be fully made of short sentences giving an awkward feeling, but later as the chapters go by, the sentences were full and the grammar was complete. Not that I expected an English essay, but some amount of completeness is indeed expected in the thoughts of the characters.

Real speed picks up at the beginning of Part Three, and the suspense of who being the killer – is it a man or is it a woman, and who would that be.

Overall, a good story, but nothing exhilarating or thrilling about it. Probably, I felt so because of my past readings of the likes of John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon, Ken Follett and Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason).

I would give a 2 out of 5 in rating.
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Julie Ditton
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Post by Julie Ditton »

I have read all of the Private series and I would rate this one about 3 out of 5. The main character was very well written, but I too had issues with a lot of the writing style. However I did find all the setting description s facinating.
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Post by anushreevaishnav18 »

Gud job, a gud review. I love thriller stories.
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Post by MythicDrmR »

I have listened to most of the Private series of books through my library's digital media. I opted to listen to the stories rather than read them, which gives me something interesting to listen to on my way to and from work. The audio versions of the stories that take place outside of the US add extra flavor by using readers who speak with a native accent. For instance, Private India was read by a gentlemen with a wonderful voice flavored with the accent of a native Indian dialect. This added a richness and depth to the story that made it doubly intriguing to listen too. I like listening to books written by English writers because the readers have an English accent, which, once again, offers something extra to the story.
"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." ~~Dr. Seuss (I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!)~~
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