18 January, 2017

#BookReview :: Penumbra by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay

In the middle of one of the worst storms to hit the city, a mysterious letter arrives for Prakash Ray, an out-of-luck journalist, inviting him to a quaint, suburban bungalow, to celebrate the 60th birthday of an uncle he has never heard of . . . 

As Prakash reaches the venue, he is introduced to a motley group of people, all gathered there for the old man’s big day: his son, his reticent brother, a dignified middle-aged lady who once owned the bungalow, a listless lawyer who manages his legal affairs, a mild-mannered young man who works as his secretary, his beautiful, young biographer, and his mysterious friend, who has never lost a game of chess to him. As the storm lashes on through the night, one of the people in the bungalow is murdered! In a game of cat and mouse that follows, Prakash soon finds out that under the surface of apparent warmth and friendliness, nothing is as it seems and that the bungalow holds one shocking secret after another! In a bid to save his own life, Prakash hunts for the truth, which lies in a mysterious penumbra of shadows and lights, covered in a sheath of deceit and guile, only to realize that the worst is yet to come!


Prakash Ray arrives at a suburban bungalow to attend the 60th birthday party of an uncle he has not heard about before. It was a stormy night and the gathering consisted of an assorted group of people. Mr. Rajendra Mukherjee, a retired artist and author, and his wife Anita are the host of the party. Also gathered are: Rajendra’s son, his brother, his secretary, his biographer and his friend. As the party progresses, the stormy situation cuts off all connection to the outside world and two murders take place. The gathered people are then stuck with each other in the house with suspicions floating around regarding everybody.

The blurb of the book really attracted me and it kind of reminded me of an Agatha Christie story. So, I started with the book as soon as I could. The author has done a great job with the setting of the story. Everything seemed to kind of come alive through the pages. The varied characters add to the story in a way that makes it more interesting. There’s the element of ‘Whodunnit’ and it impossible not to play the guessing game while reading the book. The clues and twists are spread through the book keeping the pages turning. As a result, I finished reading this book in one sitting. The only drawback of the book is that the setting is not very new. I have read quite a few books with similar backdrops and as such it gave me a sense of deja-vu once or twice and kept comparing it to the other books.

Overall, it was quite an enjoyable read. If you love mystery/Thrillers, do give this one a try.


Review Copy received from Fingerprint Publishing




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