Skip to main content

Book Review: More Bodies Will Fall by Ankush Saikia




Book: More Bodies Will Fall

Author: Ankush Saikia 

Pages: 320 

Read: Paperback edition

Read in: 3.5 hours 

Plot Summary: A girl from north-east India is murdered in Delhi. The main suspect is her 'Indian' boyfriend, but there isn't enough evidence to prove his guilt. Amid a growing outcry about police neglect and racial injustice, detective Arjun Arora reluctantly takes on this case. 

Immediately, he finds himself propelled into a tangled investigation that leads him beyond the hills of Nagaland and Manipur to the Indo-Myanmar border with new suspects emerging at every turn, including an American working at the US Embassy who may or may not be a CIA spy.

The search for answers embroils him in the dangerous new realities of the North-east--riven with strife and suffering--and also brings him face-to-face with an old enemy, culminating in an unexpected climax.

Things I Liked:
  • This is the very first Ankush Saikia book I read and it is the third in the Arjun Arora series. However, it is very easy to get into and at no point did I feel that I was missing out for not having read the first two books. Always a good thing that is! 
  • The premise of this book is very interesting. I am very sensitive to how North Eastern people are treated by most people in our country. Each of the states, or rather, even the tribes in North East India, has a distinct culture and history and if we don't make an effort to learn about that, I believe, we are missing out! So, seeing a book that talked about an unsolved murder of a Naga girl in Delhi was immediately interesting to me. 
  • The book is very well researched and has a lot of nuances about inter-tribe relations and battles between our defence forces and certain tribes, especially, in Manipur and Nagaland. It dives deep into the various types of corruption that goes on along our international borders in the North East and the delicate truce that exists between the Army and the locals. I found all of that very informative. 
  • I liked the way Arjun Arora went out gathering clues about a case that was one year old and, which, seemingly had little to no information to go off on. Arjun Arora is meticulous and I liked the way he went over all the leads and meeting all of the people from Amenla's past. It also showed that a little more digging by the cops would've solved this case, but, I guess, they couldn't be bothered. 
  • The book is very pacy and well written. The action moves from Delhi to Nagaland to Manipur to the Indo-Myanmar border and there are some interesting clues that tie back to the motive behind Amenla's murder. All of the various threads are nicely woven. 

Things I Didn't Like:
  • The motive behind the murder was quite obvious after Arjun makes a discovery quite early on in the case. So, that was not the big mystery. But that's not a big downer because the author does a good job of keeping you guessing about the killer. 

Rating: 4/5 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Magic of the Lost Temple by Sudha Murthy.

Book: The Magic of the Lost Temple Author: Sudha Murthy Pages: 163 Read On: Paperback How Long it took Me To Read: 1 day Plot Summary:   City girl Nooni is surprised at the pace of life in her grandparents' village in Karnataka. But she quickly gets used to the gentle routine there and involves herself in a flurry of activities, including papad making, organizing picnics and learning to ride a cycle, with her new-found friends. Things get exciting when Nooni stumbles upon an ancient fabled stepwell right in the middle of a forest.Join the intrepid Nooni on an adventure of a lifetime in this much-awaited book by Sudha Murty that is heart-warming, charming and absolutely unputdownable. General Thoughts: Ah! A happy little Children's Book! I wanted it the minute I spotted it in the bookshop. And I started reading it pretty much immediately. :)  I read it after reading a beyond dull and boring and soulless book. This book just cured my bookish blues. I l

Book Review: The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond.

Some snippets of the stunning art inside the book!  Book: The Room on the Roof Author: Ruskin Bond Illustrator: Ahlawat Gunjan Pages: 171 Read On: Hardback How Long It Took Me To Read: 3 days or so. Plot Summary:   Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted … and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.  General Thoughts: This book is super special. Not only this 60th anniversary edition an absolute beauty. This is also a signed copy I picked up from Mussoorie when I was in Landour earlier in the year. This is perhaps one of Ruskin Bond's most well kn

Review: Grandma's Bag of Stories by Sudha Murthy.

Book: Grandma's Bag of Stories Author: Sudha Murthy Pages: 176 Read On: Paperback How Long It Took Me Read: 2 hours Plot Summary:   When Grandma opens her bag of stories, everyone gathers Around. Who can resist a good story, especially when it’s being told by Grandma? From her bag emerges tales of kings and cheats, monkeys and mice, bears and gods. Here comes the bear who ate some really bad dessert and got very angry; a lazy man who would not put out a fire till it reached his beard; a princess who got turned into an onion; a queen who discovered silk, and many more weird and wonderful people and animals. Grandma tells the stories over long summer days and nights, as seven children enjoy life in her little town. The stories entertain, educate and provide hours of enjoyment to them. So come, why don’t you too join in the fun? General Thoughts: I've read quite a few Sudha Murthy books this year and really enjoyed them. I find them soothing, simple a