Blood in the Paradise

Book Review

We live in a world in which “fair is foul and foul is fair” much more than in Shakespeare’s time.  Good people often become victims of foul systems or villainous individuals.  What if some good people are also shrewd enough to understand the hazards underlying the system and come forward to help the good but helpless people?

This is an interesting question raised by Madhav Mahidhar’s murder mystery, Blood in the Paradise – A tale of an impossible murder.  The book is a straightforward murder mystery, a suspense thriller and a tremendously gripping read.  It is literally unputdownable because the police questionings and the court trials are riveting. 

Madhumitha who has an unhappy married life as her husband Vikas Nandan became an alcoholic and womaniser decides to end her life along with those of their little twin daughters.  She survives, however, and the children have not been administered the poison yet.  But the husband dies absorbing the same poison which his wife had taken.  It is not a suicide.  It is a murder.  But who committed the murder?  And how? 

That’s the story.  There is an intelligent and honest police officer DCP Vishwaroop.  There also is Anupriya Gautam who is a well-known feminist as well as social worker with considerable influence in the society.  She is a close friend of Madhumita and stands by her friend throughout her ordeal with the police and the court. 

Vishwaroop and his team’s brains as well as sincere efforts cannot prove what they know to be right: that Vikas was killed by means of a very cunningly crafted plan.  They cannot get the necessary evidences.  Moreover, Anupriya mobilises the public against the police who detained Madhumita under custody for a long period in spite of the fact that she needed medical attention after the suicide attempt. 

The novel has all the ingredients required for a suspense thriller.  In fact, it brings in additional spice in the form of feminism and the influence of social movements and the media on legal cases. 

The story is narrated elegantly and rivetingly.  It’s all dialogue mostly apart from Madhumita’s diary entries and a few narrative passages.  The dialogues grip us because they are police questionings and court trials. However, the author could have paid a little more attention to character development although we don’t expect much of that in a suspense thriller.  Nevertheless, Vishwaroop and Anupriya offer much scope for that.  Even the SI Mallika does.  The author chose to stick to his murder mystery with absolute loyalty.  Only in the final pages does he turn his attention to certain other details in order to make the story convincing and also to throw a few intelligent questions to the reader.  The novel is highly subversive since it raises the question: should the good and the innocent suffer for the sake of justice which is often tilted in favour of the villain?

Those who love murder mysteries narrated at a lightning speed will love this novel.

You can buy it at here: Amazon.in

PS.
I won a review copy from The Tales Pensieve as part of Reviewers Programme. Register on #TTP for lots of #book fun and activities.