Of Closets and Skeletons and Other Crime Stories-Kaivalya Ramnath

Book: Of Closets and Skeletons and Other Crime Stories
Author: Kaivalya Ramnath
Publisher: Cinnamon Teal Publishing

Can you think of a crime being almost perfect?

Of Closets and Skeletons and Other Crime Stories by Kaivalya Ramnath is a collection of 8 crime shorts, concerned with the why, rather than the who, of crime. From writing crime to being part of one, an author discovers what it takes to commit the perfect crime; A witness to a crime flees the scene, only to be forced to confront her personal demons. A lawyer sets out to discover who's been poisoning her, A coming-of-age story that quickly takes a sinister turn, A hostile takeover is the least of the problems facing this family-run pharma business and other stories.

The book might be a collection of 8 shorts, but it reads like a full-length novel. Each of the 8 stories are well crafted and have enough thrill to keep your grey cells churning. The main thing that stands about the book is that the stories are fast paced, yet Kaivalya manages to keep the plot crisp and steady through out the narration. Another interesting aspect about the stories is the fact that there is no sense of good or bad, or a hero and villain, and the book wades into the grey area and leaves it to the reader to decide what they wish to make out of it based on the facts. The stories have no other common threads apart from the fact that they are related to crime, and each one has a unique crime that the author explores, which talks quite a bit about her understanding of the human emotion, because deep down, all the stories boil down to the fact that humans are emotional creatures. The climax is something that blew my mind, 8 times over, and for that I am truly happy to pick up the book. The climax is never something that you would expect, in each of the stories, and that is what makes this book a worthwhile read.

Coming to the characters, the 8 stories have 8 sets of characters, and Kaivalya manages to explore and detail each of the primary characters in detail, so much so, that you start connecting with them and understanding their motives of doing what they do. The character sketches are nicely done and do complete justice to the plot, and specially to the type of the stories that the author decided to put in the book.

Overall, a definite recommendation from me if you love a nicely baked crime thriller. The book scores a 4.81/5 from me.

A copy of the book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

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