Book Review: In the Name of God by Ravi Subramaniam

Mystery is a favorite genre, and Ravi Subramaniam used to be a favourite author. After "Bestseller she wrote", here is another book that starts with a lot of promise and delivers at least some of it. 

The plot starts with a temple in Kerala, and the real names and incidents used in the book are a hallmark of RS's books. They make the books interesting and relatable. 

The story telling is rather gripping - gripping enough to keep you up long after bedtime, so if you have not read a book in a long time and you wonder when you will get hooked to books again, if ever, this book is definitely worth a shot. 

BUT, this book should have been at least 200 pages shorter. As a reader, I don't enjoy pointless red herrings and meaningless meandering. 

There aren't too many plotholes, but its not a tightly crafted tale either. In fact, the sheer number of themes that have been put in a single book - from Mumbai blasts and temple vaults to rich Mumbai jewelers and Chennai antiques export - makes for some distraction while reading the book. Its like we live in one world - where the valuers reach the vault every morning and then mysteriously people start getting killed, and suddenly we are moved to Mumbai, then to Chennai, then back again. One plot can and usually does have multiple connections, and the export of antiques is a relevant side thread, but Mumbai most certainly is not. 

The book is well-researched, so one is not likely to find the treatment of any of these real life events flippant or insincere. In fact, it is so well crafted that you wonder whether these events may actually be connected in this way. Most certainly appears to be plausible. 

The end appears rushed, and the connections didn't all make sense. But they were brought forth well. 

Surprisingly, we still don't know if the king was helping himself to temple riches - the question with which the book begins is not answered right till the very end. 

As a reader, I enjoyed the book, but would have enjoyed a shorter, crisper version even more.