As Death Stared Back-Ajinkya Bhasme

Book: As Death Stared Back
Author: Ajinkya Bhasme
Publisher: Self Published

What would you do if someone came back from the dead?

As Death Stared Back by Ajinkya Bhasme is a  bone trembling psychological horror based on absolute reality. Sanjana starts having nightmares of her husband trying to kill their son, after Punit’s death. As she rushes to comfort him, she realizes he has had the same nightmare. Things stabilize for 10 years until Punit turns up at their door. While he looks like him, behaves like him and knows the minute details but she still doubts the fact that he is Punit. As the evidence of Punit's death starts disappearing, will Sanjana be able to save her son from this imposter and prove her husband's death before her sanity collapses? When your eyes are the sole proof of reality, would you dare to believe that there are times when they lie?

The plot of the book is intriguing and the idea of meshing horror into a psychological thriller is very well executed. The first part of the book is a spine chilling horror story that is almost guaranteed to send chills through you. The transition into the thriller part is excellent and seamless. I loved the detailed research that might have gone into the book as Ajinkya talks about some psychological aspects of human psyche. The thing that stands out in the book is the level of detail that Ajinkya puts in to tell the story. The book opens with a scene that conditions our mind to look at the story from Sanjana’s POV all through the way, tuning us into the fact that what she sees and believes is the truth. Apart from just words, he tries to entice the other senses to make the reader imagine the scenes as they unfold. One thing that didn’t work for me is the shifting timelines and at times it became difficult to comprehend the exact time the story as taking place in, and a mention of the year could have helped that part a bit. The climax is set up beautifully and the revelations are something I did not expect.

The characters are very well crafted and the author has given due attention to detail to establish them. The character of Sanjana is set up so that the reader is very well attuned to her POV and is able to visualize the story Ajinkya set up, including the truth and the untruths. Punit’s character adds gravitas to the plot, and his appearances maintain the gory narrative of the plot. True to the characters, one scene in the book is pretty gory, one that flips the narrative. The character arcs are pretty flat and a switch in the aforementioned scene makes the characters’ actions understandable in hindsight.

Overall, a book well done and a definite recommendation for anyone who loves reading a well written thriller. The book scores a 4.64/5 for me.

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