Friday 3 November 2017

#NonFictionNovember Book Review: The Corpse That Spoke by Sidin Vadukut.


Book: The Corpse That Spoke

Author: Sidin Vadukut

Pages: 102

Publisher: Juggernaut 

Read On: iPad via the Juggernaut App

How Long it Took Me to Read: 2 hours

Plot Summary: Amarjit Chohan was a British-Indian entrepreneur with a thriving business, a gorgeous family and a chequered past. In February 2003 he disappeared with his family, having handed his firm to a new owner. Two months later the bodies began to wash up. The investigation that followed stunned Britain

General Thoughts: With NonfictionNovember on this month, I do want to read some non-fiction titles this month. I don't know which books exactly but I want to read at least 5 non-fiction before the month is up.

If you know me or have followed my blog for a while, you might know that I am a fiction reader through and through. I am not really drawn to non-fiction books. Stories make my world go around. So it will be a little bit of a personal challenge to read more non-fiction.

Things I Liked: 

1. I am a big true crime fan. Real stories and real crimes always intrigue me. And this case and the cruel fate of it's victims made for a riveting read. Tragic but riveting.

2. I enjoyed the writing and the tone and the writing style of the author.

3. This was a short, concise and quick read. An engaging and perfect read on a commute. I managed to read it in under 2 hours with several breaks.

4. I didn't know much about this case, I had read a little about it and watched a small news report on Youtube about it, so this book was a deeper dive into this case and I enjoyed it.

5. The book though short gave a decent level of in depth look into the lives of the perpetrators of this crime. We got to see the life and crimes of the killer and his associates, before the crime and how the crime was planned and executed.

6. The book also did a good job of highlighting the racial prejudice the British justice system still holds against the immigrants. An Indian family, include two children- both British citizens- went missing and the police took their own sweet time in taking this case seriously. it's despicable!

7. Even though it's a non-fiction read about a rather grim crime, it doesn't for a moment feel dry or too fact heavy. It flows effortlessly easily and the pace is good too.

Things I Didn't Like: 

I did overall enjoy this book.But there were somethings that I didn't quite like. 

1. My main grouse is that there could have been a deeper dive into this family and this case. A 102 pages is just not nearly enough to do it justice.

2. Also there is nothing about the victims, at least not enough in any case. We don't get to know them as people. Who were the Chohans? What were they like? We just don''t get to know them at all. Especially, Nancy Chohan is just a passing footnote in her own murder. I wish we had gotten to known them better.

3. The entire case was given the importance it deserved because of the efforts put in by Nancy Chohan's brother, I wish we had seen more of him in the book. An interview with him perhaps would have been nice.

Rating: 3.5/5



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