Book Review: Surpanakha - Hariharan Iyer

Surpanakha by Hariharan Iyer has a sumptuous prose that is fluent and well articulated. It depicts a story that contains in the temporal space of a few days the breath of centuries. It touches on the life of a person and his work, and the impact that can be done by the society and community. The book never loses sight of the investigation on the range of allegations against him.

Sesha is a sophisticated, youthful, down-to-earth, gifted Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. An accusation threatens to bring him down that he was the instigator of the massacre of 73 Kannadigas. But he is inexplicably saved at the 11th hour just to find out that he is slapped with the accusation of sexually offending a young nurse.

At the same time as Mythili, his other half promises her full support, his young daughter calls him despicable and walks out of the house. While, the human-rights campaigner, Zarina, attempt to bring him down amidst the insinuations of a star legal representative that he is casteist and anti-minorities. And as soon as the young nurse is found dead, the case becomes even more intricate.

The novel tells essentially the life of Sesha, made difficult by many circumstances. This of course in a review of a thriller cannot and should not be told. They are compelling and intriguing, as the author introduces you and leads you through a landscape of realism. They are sometimes so hard, to make you think that you're not reading, but watching a movie!

The reality runs in front thanks to the quick and personal brushstrokes that the author inserts between the story. He provides information that contextualizes the story that unfolds dramatically in the life of Sesha. Here another reality, drop from current but not too much. The wire of the femicide, for example, holds the two dimensions together that unfolds.

One of the great merits of this story is that it uses the "adrenaline" card. It does not try to capture the reader with the "suspense". It instead concentrates on a number of elements that make up the everyday life and flavor of investigation proceedings. It, in this case, is particularly complex due to the total lack of latches. At stake is the logic. It cannot be exhausted in a slew of deductions or skipped altogether with the momentum and the intuition of the detective instinct.

Page after page, as in a masterful cinematic sequence, the novel takes us into a murky and unknown world. It stretches like a giant spider's web. The expert hand of the writer still manages to surprise us once and deceive us. Every detail of this intricate story will be clarified only by the author in the last pages. There we will carefully delve into the twisted psychology of characters who, perhaps, only the most cunning and experienced readers would have been able to identify.

A good book to read in moments of relaxation. The constant growing tension envelops you in its narrative. The plot, characters, settings and everything is impeccable. There is a pretty compelling storyline, beautiful setting, and the description of realistic situations which are sometimes very addictive.

A very good book, in which the characters live a real life, and not contrived. You can follow them in their daily actions and their personal circumstances. The men and women who do not suffer from exorbitant exceptional psychological profiles. The author does very well in this aspect of depicting the key character with a pervasive human trace that touches everyone, sooner or later, to manifest.

With descriptions that are not literary exercises, the narrative is precise with concrete paintings of what lies before us, without insisting on furnishings that we could not see or transient aspects of the real, that we do not weigh. At the same time, the pace is that of a real daily performance with an absolute novelty in the scenario of fiction of this kind. The narrative moves with great skill in the maze of Sesha and the investigative reality.

This is a beautiful thriller which touches issues of great relevance in modern-day India. It covers the social strife to the increasingly urgent issue of sexual harassment. Everything is dealt with clarity and meaningfulness. It is a novel that keeps you glued to the pages. You do not want to ever stop to read, as the characters enter your body as if they were a part of you like you know them all along.

Read on, and you'll know it, and you will certainly not regret it for the hours which are very well invested. The book manages to go beyond itself, fascinating and involving the reader in a superlative way. It has an extremely rich and complex plot, which is the result of a great imagination and a careful research and attention to detail. It ultimately is a long and exciting novel that sometimes exceeds the most famous and noble writings of the major authors of the thriller genre.

As it comes to an end, you will find that you would like to read again immediately because it is hard to leave the protagonist and the real person just like us.

Surpanakha Hariharan Iyer

Format: Paperback ♥ Pages: 304 ♥ Publisher: Notion Press ♥ Published: March 2016 ♥ Language: English ♥ ISBN-13: 978-9352065356
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