Vikas Swarup Six Suspects

Back then I was totally crazy about Slumdog Millionaire. That movie became the best movie I have ever watched in years. I totally did not expect it to be that good. The last time I watched a movie and felt good after watching it was “The Pianist“. That was the only movie that I could recall immediately. when I realized that the movie was actually adapted from a book “Q&A” written by Vikas Swarup, I immediately set forth to read the book. I was thrilled. The book was good. But now comes a new novel called “Six Suspects”.

Six Suspects is written by the same man that brought you Q&A and ultimately Slumdog Millionaire, the multi award winning movie.  I actually had the book a long time ago, and I just had not the time to finish reading it immediately. So far i have been reading book in small bits and I’m I should complete it very soon.

The plot is great, it tells of this playboy son, Vicky Rai who was shot and  murdered on scene during a party in which he organised. There were six people who attended the party that had a gun in their possession. These circumstances instantly made them suspects. It consists of a corrupt bureaucrat who claimed to be Gandhi, an American tourist who was madly in love with an Indian celebrity and was under the impression that he was going to marry her, a tribesman from the Andaman Islands, who went to India in search of the tribe’s lost relic. A Bollywood sex symbol with a terrible secret and a mobile phone thief.

The story unravels the lives and motives of the six suspects.

One thing I like about Swarup’s novel is his vivid depiction of India. As an Indian author, naturally, on top of your story, you would write wonderful locales of India, the sights and the sounds of the country. It is really refreshing to be able to read life in India in general and it is a good opportunity to set your sights further in understanding an exotic country.  The characters in this book are believable and down to earth. Because the story involves unraveling the mystery behind who killed Vicky, reading about the character’s life leading up to the murder is an interesting ride. There are a lot of contrasts that you manage to find between characters and with that, it is never boring reading that character life’s story.

If you like Q&A and how it is written, you should give this book a try.