Author
Ashwin Sanghi, James Patterson
Publisher
Arrow
Date
July 20, 2014
Final Verdict
3/5

About the Author

James Patterson is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. Since winning the Edgar Award for Best First Novel with The Thomas Berryman Number, his books have sold in excess of 300 million copies worldwide and he has been the most borrowed author in UK libraries for the past eight years in a row. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett and Private novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers. He lives in Florida with his wife and son. James is passionate about encouraging children to read. Inspired by his own son who was a reluctant reader, he also writes a range of books specifically for young readers. James is a founding partner of Booktrust’s Children’s Reading Fund in the UK.

Ashwin Sanghi is an entrepreneur by profession but writing historical fiction is his passion and hobby. He self-published his first novel, The Rozabal Line in 2007 under his pseudonym, Shawn Haigins. His second novel, Chanakya’s Chant remained on AC Nielsen’s india Top 10 for over two years, won the Vodafone Crossword Popular Choice Award and UTV acquired movie rights. His latest thriller, The Krishna Key, was released in August 2012 and went straight to number 1 in the charts.

Private India

A thriller based in India, a collaboration between two authors with their own individual styles of writing – one Ashwin Sanghi and the other James Patterson, a book that is the next instalment of the fairly popular private series. With all this backing it up, the expectation from Private India was obviously quite high.

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PLOT: A serial killer is murdering women in Mumbai, each murder a ritual, each ritual different. Not knowing who he is up against, in a highly populated city like Mumbai, makes it difficult for Santosh Wagh, the ace Detective and the head of Private India. Β In his bid to thwart the killer, he uncovers a much more sinister and bigger plot. In a race against time, will he find the killer and save the city from another act of terror?

The main plot is strong and the pace it moves at is quite effective. There are a lot of subplots that look like they have been lifted from a series of Bollywood movies, and were a downer for me.

CHARACTERS: Β The characters of this book are interesting but not quite. Each victim is a lady who has lived a double life, and the killer, but nothing makes the characters memorable. Santosh Wagh is a man with demons struggling every day to make a choice to live for his work or his pain while trying to catch the killer. His team members each have a past, a secret of their own. Even none of them can be considered characters that can be remembered for times to come.

WHAT I LIKED: The main plot and the storyline both were really good and fast pace, and so is the research on Mumbai. Its little streets and alleyways have been described so perfectly

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: Like I said the subplots could have been stronger and the characters are not strong or memorable. Also, the chapters are too short and mostly by the time you are getting the hang of the story, it shifts leaving you confused. Β It may have been done on purpose, but to me, it is just too confusing and it took me some time to get the story straight.

FINAL VERDICT: I have not read either of the Authors before so I cannot say how much each contributed to the narration or the story and whose style is predominant. What I can say is that it has a strong plot and potential, but in most places, the tension or thrill was not maintained. I did read the book in one sitting, so it is not a bad book, but I will not read it again.


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13 Responses

  1. I enjoy Patterson though even he also has a tendency to ramble on.. but his sub plots and characters are quite strong..
    I hope my Library gets this book so I can read it once quite of curiosity of nothing else!

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