A suspenseful tale undercut by weak writing.
A religious thriller structurally similar to The Da Vinci Code, with ancient Hindu Vedas replacing hoary Christian mysteries.
Mitra (If There Wasn’t Death, 2006) has taken the notion of a possible fifth Veda—a sacred Sanskrit text—and given it the international murder mystery treatment. Here, the discovery, and subsequent disappearance, of an ancient diary sets a treasure hunt in motion, bringing the CIA, al-Qaida and unscrupulous scholars on the trail of an unwitting computer geek. Satya Vishalguri’s connection to the missing manuscript stems from his few dates with paper-expert Padmina, who contacted him just before her murder. Teaming with Padmina’s sister—the sharp-tongued Veenalaxmi—Satya learns that Padmina had attempted to return the diary to Chatur Lal, her former professor. The two set off for Delhi to confront Lal, now paranoid after his participation in an expedition into the mountains north of Kabul, during which he both discovered and lost the mysterious manuscript, save for one unintelligible page. Soon, a few suspect characters enlist their aid to break its code: an ancient Sanskrit scholar; one of Lal’s colleagues; a billionaire who claims to be the descendant of Emperor Ashoka; and Veenalaxmi’s ex-husband, Karimba, a one-time NFL player with ties to the CIA. The plotlines and theories twist and shift, but alas, innumerable missing words, a confusing lack of punctuation and poor writing distract from the action: “Someone had taste of blood and was not hesitant to kill again. The room was searched. For that particular piece of paper or it was just random.” It’s a pity, since Mitra has concocted a thought-provoking plot with well-drawn characters, from the genial sap Satya to the continually surprising Karimba. The resolution to the mystery is a bit implausible but works within the construct of the story.
A suspenseful tale undercut by weak writing.Pub Date: April 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-1483921396
Page Count: 344
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A smart and engaging literary thriller that bears down too hard on its themes.
At the home of an eccentric millionaire, a woman discovers out-of-the-ordinary events.
When her husband is invited to finish writing his book at the island home of a reclusive millionaire, Anna is relieved: If he sells it, they’ll be able to keep their Bronx apartment and she won’t have to go back to work at the laundry. It’s 1918, and Charles Fort—based on a real-life figure—is hard at work on a book about unexplained phenomena, such as objects falling from a clear sky: frogs, for example, or even bits of flesh, or blood. If Anna has doubts about the legitimacy of his research, she keeps them to herself. In any case, when the millionaire Claude Arkel offers the couple a place to stay for the winter, they eagerly accept. Almost immediately, though, things seem to be off. Arkel runs a school for wayward girls, and three students are missing. Meanwhile, there’s no sign of Arkel himself, and with the Spanish flu raging in the outside world, the Forts are stuck in quarantine. Bakis’ latest novel has the pacing and suspense of a smart literary thriller: It’s almost impossible to put down once you’ve started it. But Bakis can be heavy-handed in her treatment of the themes that undergird her story—in this case, women who support ambitious men. That’s not to say Bakis’ case doesn’t hold water, but she strikes the same note again and again in a way that is more repetitive than satisfying. So, for example, when the Forts first arrive on Arkel’s island, and Charles observes that the grand house is “modeled on the Château de Chambord in the Val de Loire” and Anna responds, “I know, I’m the one who showed you the article,” the mansplaining moment isn’t nearly as funny as it was apparently intended to be; it's just frustrating, in a teeth-grinding way.
A smart and engaging literary thriller that bears down too hard on its themes.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781324093534
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
The story is sadly familiar, the treatment claustrophobically intense.
Twenty years after Chloe Davis’ father was convicted of killing half a dozen young women, someone seems to be celebrating the anniversary by extending the list.
No one in little Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, was left untouched by Richard Davis’ confession, least of all his family members. His wife, Mona, tried to kill herself and has been incapacitated ever since. His son, Cooper, became so suspicious that even now it’s hard for him to accept pharmaceutical salesman Daniel Briggs, whose sister, Sophie, also vanished 20 years ago, as Chloe’s fiance. And Chloe’s own nightmares, which lead her to rebuff New York Times reporter Aaron Jansen, who wants to interview her for an anniversary story, are redoubled when her newest psychiatric patient, Lacey Deckler, follows the path of high school student Aubrey Gravino by disappearing and then turning up dead. The good news is that Dick Davis, whom Chloe has had no contact with ever since he was imprisoned after his confession, obviously didn’t commit these new crimes. The bad news is that someone else did, someone who knows a great deal about the earlier cases, someone who could be very close to Chloe indeed. First-timer Willingham laces her first-person narrative with a stifling sense of victimhood that extends even to the survivors and a series of climactic revelations, at least some of which are guaranteed to surprise the most hard-bitten readers.
The story is sadly familiar, the treatment claustrophobically intense.Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-2508-0382-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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