Once Upon a Spy-Suvash Dev

Book: Once Upon a Spy
Author: Suvash Dev
Publisher: Kalamos Literary Services

Which is the best fictional spy you have come across?

Once Upon a Spy by Suvash Dev is the story of Vishwamitra Saini, an Indian spy who falls in love with a girl and which leads to him blowing his cover. As a result, he is put on the shelf and is then he decides that the line has been crossed and he defects to Pakistan, putting the secrets in jeopardy. As the agencies start looking for Saini, they stumble upon a mysterious person, The Rook, who wants to trade information from the other side, but has not yet shown all his cards. As Saini navigates through a web of politics, betrayal, love and spy craft, we journey through a story about people who, in the business of pretending, have left their true selves behind.

The plot of the book starts on an excellent note with some very interesting scenes that would engage the reader into the premise of the book and the story of Saini. As the story moves ahead, things start getting a bit hazy as the lines between truth and lies get blurred. While this is a good thing in a book on spies that focuses on people double crossing, too much of this tends to make things confusing for the reader, which is what happens. The manner in which the story has been told is quite interesting and Suvash as a storyteller can go places with the eye for detail that he has. The premise of the story is well crafted, but I felt that the execution could have been a bit better. The climax of the story started on an amazing note, but did not do justice to the level I expected from it.

Coming to the characters, the story has some of the best characters that can be present in a story about spooks. With tragic backstories and nefarious pasts, each one has their own agenda and throughout the book, the reader is kept guessing the identity of the Rook. Personally, Vishwamitra was one of the favorites because of the manner in which his arc develops and the manner in which he twists and turns the story to his advantage. Hayat was another character that caught my fancy in the way he carried himself, and how his mannerisms changed.

Overall, a good spy novel that scores a 3.50/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book here.