happily
murdered...
by Rasleen Syal
a book review
From the back cover:
Who killed Gulab Sarin?
The radiant new daughter-in-law of the influential Mehra family dies mysteriously on the very next night of her wedding. The murder is an inside job, the police are certain. It could be anyone - the adulterous husband, convining in-laws, jealous friend or the love struck ex-fiancé.
With an aim to save themselves and incriminate others, it is not long before these suspects turn into amateur detectives, hunting for clues and delving into hidden secrets only they can unearth. They coerce, pry and blackmail in an attempt to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Will one of these nine unlikely sleuths finally unravel the mystery behind Gulab's death and avenge it? Or will the truth die as viciously as Gulab?
About the Author:
Rasleen designs homes to make a living and reads to make her life worth living. A mystery addict, she is influenced by her reading choices much to the angst of her family for she can't resist seeking our intrigue in everyday domestic situations. She then readily plays detective, unwittingly landing in hilarious situations. Her husband dreads the day she will finally pass on this bug to their baby daughter as well.
About the book:
Book title: happily murdered
Author: Rasleen Syal
Publisher: Srishti Publishers
ISBN: 9789382665182
Pages: 246
Genre: Mystery Fiction
Price: 195 INR
On getting the book, what I first read was the summary of the book at the back cover of the book. (I have given it here at the beginning)
The summary of the book made me want to read the book and know what is happening out there! But I was able to start reading the book only the next day and let us see what happened out there.
But before that, on reading the synopsis I was reminded of an Agatha Christie book called And then there were none. If you have read the book, u might know how the ten members in the book try to find out the murderer and also like in Murder of Roger Ackroyd and as in The Murder on the Orient Express.Since this is not about Agatha Christie's books, I will proceed with my review.
This is the debut work of this author and we do not know what is her genre of writing and how is her way of writing. So, before starting to read her book, you have no idea about what to expect and I started reading the book with this mentality.
As the title will definitely tell you, this book is about a murder and as the front cover depicts blood oozing out from a Sari, this book is definitely about a female being murdered.
And in our country the most common female deaths is bride deaths. But here she is murdered and the persons involved are more than the mother-in-law.
At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the characters among which the story will revolve. These characters are peculiar in each way. With the beginning and in the introduction, the author tells us what views each one had about Gulab, the murdered bride.
It makes a reader yet more curious because even though the police report excludes some of them from suspicion, you know that all of them could be suspects!
This was just the beginning. This kind of beginning is what I hope to get from a book and as far as this book is considered, it has kept me hooked after the beginning few pages.
As the story progresses you get to know the sinister attitude of the members of the family. It makes you wonder what could be the reason for all this hatred and in comes the answer in the form of Gulab's narration in between the story. She starts from her childhood and slowly progresses to the current scenario. And if you are really smart or if you have enough experience with these kind of novels, you might have guessed about the murder.
But in the middle of the murder, comes the romantic part, involving the ex-ones and the present- ones. Though they too make one of the components of the characters motives, it made the book slow in the middle. It made the book a little contemporary for a bit. Some may not complain, but mystery will.
Who must have killed her? What was that motive?
I request you to read the book for the rest.
About the characters:
It is tough to portray a story full of sinister characters. Not all, but most. And there are sudden change in characters too.
About the narrative:
The narration is easy to assimilate and it goes like a breeze. No hindrance there apart from a few typo errors. I think the publishers must have looked into it, before publishing. The story was not a heavy dose. You will be traveling with it, finding clues and at last the ending will reveal what you have wanted. Throughout the story you will find that the suspense part of the story hold good and hooks the reader towards it.
Likes:
Easy narrative
Suspenseful
Good plot
Dislikes:
Love part coming middle of a fantastic murder plot. It slogs the mystery part.
Rating: 8/10
Finally:
Good work from a debutant author. Still has rooms for improvement, which I think will be fulfilled in her next ones.
Good effort.
I got this book as first reads from goodreads.
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