Party to a Crime-Rohithari Rajan

Book: Party to a Crime
Author: Rohithari Rajan
Publisher: Rupa Publications

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

How do you separate truth from the lies when everyone is lying to you?

Founder of a highly valued start-up, Karan Chopra is young, famous and unpredictable. He is also missing, last seen at his birthday party seven days ago. Investigators try to make sense of testimonies from four people close to Karan. Karan’s wife Maya is in a loveless marriage that she portrays as anything but. Is that all she’s hiding? Karan’s deputy Abhinav is madly in love—just not with his own wife. Who is he scared of? Mohit recently joined Karan’s company. Why did Karan fire him? Venkatesh is one of Karan’s oldest friends. Why did he leave so early? Everyone was at the party, and everyone is lying. What are they guilty of?

The book is a crime thriller where the investigators are presented with versions of one night when the crime occurs. The author paints a picture of the events through the 4 primary suspects and as the book progresses, the stories develop, slowly peeling off layers of the true sequence of events that had occurred. The writing of the book is engaging and keeps you hooked till the last page as you uncover the truth. Another aspect of the book that stood out for me was how the author uses multiple rounds of interrogation to unravel the layers of the truth, and after each interrogation, you try and figure out the truth. It is almost as if the investigators were playing two truth and lie with the investigation. However, while the book has its positives, there are a few things that dampened the reading experience a little bit. First and foremost was the typesetting and the book quality. There are a few locations where the font size and style are inconsistent, especially on the first page, and that is a dampener. Secondly, the book becomes repetitive in the events because of the interviews, and the tone becomes a bit drab towards the end. The climax was nicely written and I liked how it was written. The way the means, motive and mastermind were revealed was quite fun.

Coming to the characters, the book is driven through the character development. I loved the manner in which the characters have been introduced and detailed out. The manner in which their motives are revealed one-by-one was impressive. Another aspect of character development that was good was that of Menon and Shukla. As investigators, I liked that they have been given their individuality as well as quirks that are an integral part of the story, especially the part about Menon’s coffee. The two characters that definitely stood out for me were that of Venky and Maya and the brilliance stands out especially when the big reveal happens.

Overall, the book is a good crime thriller and a definite recommendation. The book scores a 4.38/5 for me.

Get a copy of the book from your nearest book store or on Amazon India.