~Who is the murderer?~. Review on Six Suspects - Vikas Swarup

Point Blank Shot - and the 32 year old spoiled brat is dead!

There is caste system even in murder! You dont know the name of the road side dwellers killed by Salman Khan! But, here the one who is killed , Mr. Vicky Rai is the son of the Home Minister of UP!

Is he a noble soul whose death need to be mourned? Ofcourse not! He deserve more punishments but alas our system is so corrupt!

What ever it may be - another interesting question associated with this is "Who is the killer?"

Well, what if we come to know who is the killer? "What is the motive?"

Arun Advani- the investigative journalist who was observing Vicky Rai for quite long take us through the roller coast ride revealing the mysteries behind the death!

Police could figure out "Six Suspects"(Title of the Novel). Did any one of them commit the murder? Or there is another one who got amazing capability to fool the system?

Vikas Swarup takes us through the story behind the murder in his latest novel. Some of the real life characters like Barkha Dutt is also there in this novel! Also, many of the incidents can be identified with real life happenings - like the murder of Jessica Lall in 1999 etc,

The Six Suspects -

Six suspects' and their life lives unravel before our eyes as we read on.

There is a bureaucrat, an innocent tribal youth, a dumb American, an actress, a thief and finally finally a politician(Vicky's father himself). Each character has their own chapter, three times over, the first being under Suspects, the second under Motives, the third - when all is revealed - under Evidence

The bureaucrat is one of the most corrupted person who serves in the board of many companies owned by Vicky Rai. He is encountered with Chemical Lochapopularised by Munnabhai. At times, soul Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi take control over him and then he will resort to Gandhigiri. He got another identity as Gandhi Baba.Finally, he was guided by the soul of Ruby Gillwho was killed by Vicky to pay revenge. How he is liberated from his trauma? Is he the murderer?

The Tribal Youthreaches India from Andaman (stress on the point - India - they dont have national feeling (?) in search of precious stone stolen by an Indian from their place. Finally, he came to know that it is found in Vicky Rai's residence. A good reason to kill Vicky?

The dumb American who is a fork lift driver reaches India to marry an Indian woman who send her photo to him (through an agency). On arrival he was shocked to realise that he was duped. His reaction to the Indian who told him the truth was amazing (you are more a shit* than a constipated elephant carries).He is enoucntered with many difficulties, got job as an accent trainer in a call centre (he almost cries when his students call him Professor). (Un)fortunately his name is the same as that of the founder of Google - yeah, Larry Page! So, what cost he has to give for that?

The actress is the one from a small village and Vicky was always wanting to have an indecent affair with her. Finally she accepts his offer. Is that with a special agenda?

The mobile phone thief could win the heart of Vicky's sister. He got brutally attacked by Vicky's henchman. Is that a good enough reason to kill him?

Finally - what will you do, when your son causes this much of trouble to you - like, you are about to become Chief Minister of the state but just because of your son and his wrong deeds, you are going to lose the fortune. So, what will you do? Will you kill your son? Is it the Home Minister of UP himself given the contract to kill his son?

The lives of each and every character is so distinct and vivid where in we will have the experience of reading new story altogether! Interestingly, some of them really came to kill Vicky on the same day when he was shot dead.

Is it worth reading?

Hmmmm ---- let me think! What do you want to attain after reading?

If it is for time pass, some entertainment - ofcourse yes.

But if you are looking out of amazing experiences out of a literary wonder - oh no, please. Dont even touch the book.

I was reading this book for last one month just for the purpose of time pass and it served the purpose. It provided information, it made me laugh loud at times (especially the American), it did revealed a realistic picture on corruption etc. Altogether, it demands much time and energy from the author. It is very difficult to withhold my feeling of happiness just becuase of the lack of technical intricaciies and logic. The story narration is quite similar to that of "Q & A" where in collage of various images were put together in the canvass. Vikas Swarup's writing is backed up by some fine research on myths / norms.

Finally -

Six Suspects reveals Vikas Swarup's uninhibited lust for bizarre twists and outrageous coincidences and instances of appalling cruelty. There are too many ingredients have been stirred into the stew, that it has been quite crudely overspiced and that there has been ample recourse to fictional stock-in-trade.

Finally, the book takes us all over India and shows us the myriad threads that weaves the country into a giant multicolored quilt. Just like Q & A - it has got all essential ingredients of a "Masala Flick" with an interesting climax. So, sooner we can expect a movie out of this Novel also. But will it bag "Oscar" again? Well, no idea! Leave it to time.

Inshort - recommended from my side for time pass.

Also - It is 574 pages big, Published from UK (Transworld Publishers), will cost you Rs.255/-