Victims for Sale-Nish Amarnath

Book: Victims for Sale

Author: Nish Amarnath

Publisher: Harper Black (An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

Would you endanger your life, for a person you just met, in pursuit of justice?

Victims for Sale by Nish Amarnath is the story of Sandy Raman, who’s a student at the London School of Economics, who works for BBC part-time. As a precondition imposed by her father and brother to move from India to London, she lives with the Sawants, a quiet family in London, an acquaintance of her brother, Sri. She notices something amiss in this house when she wakes up, late in the night, only to encounter a woman with a knife. Things take a turn, when as a part of her assignment with the BBC she runs a sting operation on a home for the differently abled.  She realizes that there is a connection between this home and the family she’s living with. Things turn murkier when a spate of murders take place in London and she’s in the centre of it. With a race against time, she can save herself, or expose the thriving sex racket in the city.

Victims for Sale by Nish Amarnath is an engaging thriller that works up your appetite and then dishes out the most flavorful climax. The storytelling is good and the way the plot is treated is excellent as well. The author took her time in establishing the facts, which according to me, stretched out a little bit which may cause the readers to slow down in the beginning, but the later parts make up for it with its pace. The single plot approach works very well in this case and she has expertly navigated the story so that the true nature of the characters doesn’t come out till the end. The book has a couple of grammatical errors here and there, nothing that cannot be fixed in an edit in the subsequent prints. The climax was good with the story coming to a close with a neat little bow. 

Coming to the characters, Sandy is shown as a GenZ Indian woman in the UK, with a focus on her studies, with a flair for journalism. The book revolves around her and the entire story is seen as she narrates it. Her introduction as a crime reporter, who suffered a loss in the attack she was covering was an evidence to her nerves of steel and her resolve to be a journalist. As her character develops across the story, we see different shades of her that come out, a concerned friend, passionate lover, caring sister and a protective colleague. Another character whose arc interested me was that of Nimmy, the son of the family that took her in in London, his mood swings and his interested yet aloof approach was an interesting development in the story, that could have gone either way. Ritchie was one character whose arc I could not have guessed at all. It was a surprise package that was cherry atop the cake. Apart from these 3, the entire Sawant family, with their quirks was a good package that Nish has created.

Overall, Victims of Sale drew my interest and is a recommended read in this genre.

The book scores a 4/5 for me.

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