Six Suspects – Vikaas Swarup

This crime based fiction is the second book written by the author after his famous debut Q & A.The plot seems to be based on the murder of Jessica Lal, a model in a bar.

Vicky Roy, son of UP’s Home Minister kills a bartender girl Ruby Gill when she refuses to offer him a drink at a party. He gets acquitted by the court through his father’s influence and plans to celebrate a grand party on this occassion at his farmhouse in the outskirts of New Delhi. However, he gets killed in the party. There are six suspects in this case who were present at the party carrying pistols. And then the story takes you to the background of each suspect and their reasons to carry the weapon to the party. Finally the murder mystery unfolds in a surprising way.

Though it appears to be a murder mystery, the narration doesn’t suit to it. This actually is a multi-cultural fictious story. It takes you through different places in India (including the Andamans), the cultures, different classes of people and their mentalities. The narration relates to many  incidents like the Bhopal gas leakage tragedy, Kumbh Mela, Al-quaida blasts etc. Corruption in politics, sex scandals of politicians, bollywood  life and many more issues are described.In short, it gives you a picture of present India.

The story of Larry Page, the American guy seemed to be very unconvincing. Other than this, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The climax reminded me of the film ‘A Wednesday’. A 480 page unputdownable read