THE LETTER AND THE HIT LIST

In Arvind’s debut thriller, a young Indian woman trained in weapons and combat goes after the group of people responsible for her parents’ deaths.

After professionals, possibly American, kidnap 20-year-old Sonia, they let her go for reasons not exactly clear. This does, however, seemingly indicate that she’s in danger, along with the family with whom she lives in Bangalore. Her uncle, aunt, and cousin flee to Cape Town, South Africa, but Sonia stays behind. Her parents died in an explosion years ago, but they left their daughter a list of 11 intelligence and investigative agents they suspected of wanting to murder them. Sonia first seeks out Rohan, whose parents died in the same bombing and with whom Sonia shares a romantic past from five years earlier. Sonia and the team of friends she ultimately assembles have all undergone combat training, but Rohan has not. So the group trains him in archery and other skills he may need. Sonia and her friends plan to take out the targets in various cities throughout India. They will just have to overcome hurdles such as in-fighting among the team’s couples (or potential couples) as well as the authorities who are pursuing them for homicides they may or may not have committed. Arvind’s surprisingly upbeat story of assassins regularly focuses on the team’s conflicts. These feel lighthearted compared to the periodic hits, even when reunited exes resort to a physical scuffle. But some of the story consists of outright comedy, particularly Sonia’s distaste for beards and her designating Rohan’s as one of his most dreadful traits. At the same time, the assassinations end quickly, which tones down the violence. As welcome as it is to see female characters who are as strong as the males, the novel abounds with grammatical errors (such as using “your” instead of “you’re”) and occasional bizarre phrasing (“At sharp 6:45 am”). Arvind also leaves out some pertinent details, from that of a target’s actual death to how a “mini-gun” on Sonia’s finger works.

A flawed but entertaining tale of assassins and diverting character interactions.