There is a shortage of crime fiction set in the capital of India and this book by VikasSwarup can be said to be a pioneer in this arena. The book tries tries to expose the contract killing & fraud that goes in the vicinity of Delhi. The story is based on the murder of Jessica Lall(a model) in a bar in 1999. In the book, the victim is Ruby Gill who is a Gandhian scholar & bartender who is shot dead after refusing to serve a notorious industrialist and a producer of movies.

VivekRai has already been acquitted for running over pavement dwellers and also killed endangered blackbuck antelope. His father, who is a corrupt home minister of Uttar Pradesh always saves him and this time also he is acquitted of Ruby’s murder.

However, when he is celebrating his acquittal, he is killed. Six guests are found with guns and they become the suspects and are arrested.

Besides being the murder mystery, the book also highlights the disparities that define the Indian Society. It shows the corruption that burdens the Indian bureaucracy.

In the end, there is an unexpected revelation of the mystery surrounding the murder.

Urvi M. Dani