The Pandora’s Box was Left Open-Dyumani

Book: The Pandora’s Box was Left Open
Author: Dyumani 
Publisher: Self Published

The Pandora’s Box was Left Open by Dyumani is the story of a star detective Om and his protégé Shiv. As they journey through the trials and tribulations of crime-solving, their paths intersect not just professionally, but personally as well. Known to have a perfect track record, there is a secret that Om keeps, and there are skeletons in Shiv’s closet that he would rather not unravel. The question is, would these two be able to keep their secrets hidden?

The idea to explore an Indian detective with an uncanny sense of solving crimes is an interesting one. The book aims to explore the idea and create a pair of formidable detectives which could have been a successful attempt, however the book has, at best, a flimsy plot that moves too fast and the depth of substance is missing. The author started well by setting up the context and a sub-plot as well, but lost the plot somewhere and the book seems hurriedly written. The criminal cases are solved too soon to add anything to either the plot or the characters. Another issue with the book is that of editing and grammar. There are serious editorial issues in terms of language, spellings and sentence construction which further reduce the reading experience. The climax, however, redeems the plot somehow with an unforeseen twist.

Coming to the characters, the book explores primarily 2 people-Shiv and Om. While we see bits and pieces of character arcs emerging, a major part of them is quite flat and not much exploration or development can be seen. Om as a detective with an impressive track record does get some recognition in the plot, but it could have been much better treated. Harish’s character seems important with the climax, but I would have loved to see a bit more of him because going by the current character sketches, he would be almost as good as a new character if he makes an appearance in the sequel.

Overall, a book that held promise but could have been better. The book scores a 2.75/5 for me.

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