Book Review: Blood in the Paradise

Don't you hate it when life creeps up on you at unexpected times? That is exactly what happened to me and Blood in the Paradise. I had received from The Tales Pensieve a few months ago for a review. I read it almost immediately. But then life happened. Amidst shifting houses and then moving out of the country took its toll on me, and I missed reviewing it. So here I am to review a book that I read months ago, would my memory be able to do justice for this whodunnit?

Book Name: Blood in the Paradise - A tale of an impossible murder
Author:  Madhav Mahidhar
Genre: Fiction - Thriller
Characters: Madhumitha and Vikas Nandan,  DCP Vishwaroop,  Anupriya Gautam  


Disclaimer: Thanks to the Author and The Tales Pensieve for the free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The story begins with a suicidal note and the eventual suicide attempt of Madhumita Nandan and her husband Vikas calls up for help once he gets to the place. But before the police could reach the area, Vikas is murdered. On a surprising turn of events, Madhu bounces back while Vikas does not. The case is handed to DCP Vishwaroop, a perfect combination of intelligence, honesty, and diligence.

He is suspicious about Madhu's involvement in her husband's death, and her persistent marital woes don't help her either. Her friend Anupriya, an activist herself comes to her rescue by bringing in media's attention and involving a competent lawyer. To add to the DCP's problems, he has not found the weapon involved yet. So is it a murder at all? Or is there a simple explanation to all of these and it was indeed just an accident. Read Blood in the Paradise to find out more.

Blood in the Paradise is steady paced, and the author's efforts to do the ground work on the plot shows well. The characters are etched to perfection, and no one acts out of character which made the plot grounded. The part about Madhu and Vikas' marital troubles sticks to the reality of the life in an Indian society and is commendable.

Even though guessing the murderer was anyone's game, the writing kept me through the end. Except for the dialogues that kept interrupting the flow of the story and could have done very well without. Some things were bit of Bollywood-ey, while I agree that there is an audience who might like it, it just didn't appeal to me.

Blood in the Paradise could have used another round of editing to weed off those typos and errors and could have ended 15 pages earlier, with the right editing effort. The author has made it a point to talk about the real meaning of feminism and the impact of media and activists' intrusion into the legal system. If you like to solve an impossible murder, then you should pick Blood in the Paradise this weekend.