Author: Vish Dhamija
Publisher: Bloomsbury India
I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you ever played snakes and ladders?
Beautiful young Anushka Khan is a privileged South Delhi wife. Her
perfect world turns upside down when she awakens in the hospital, beaten and
bruised, her body overrun with prescription drugs and alcohol. Her husband, the
nawab Akbar Khan, is missing, suspected of murdering their friend Rajiv Pant at
their palatial home in the swanky Sainik Farms. As Anushka makes a slow
recovery, trying to piece together her memories of the haadsaa that fatal
night, she must contend with ACP Kamala Jha, a diligent young police officer.
Jha is focused on uncovering the truth hidden in a web of misleading theories and
dirty secrets. Was Anushka having an affair with Rajiv? Was Akbar involved in
shady hawala dealings? Was there another man present that evening? What really
happened that hot July night in Sainik Farms? Bestselling author Vish Dhamija's
latest thriller, Haadsaa, is a maze of deception, leaving you questioning whom
to trust.
Vish’s writing is wildly misdirectional and every page attempts to throw you off course. The book is a simple whodunnit and each chapter takes you that much closer to finding the killer. Easy right? Unfortunately, with Vish, this time the book is placed on a hypothetical snakes-and-ladder board, where the moment you are close to 100, you get bit and you start at the very beginning. The writing in the book is easy to read, but the complexity of the story is par excellence. The plot is very well planned, and along with ACP Kamala Jha, even you start racking your brains to find Akbar Khan and I must say I came very close to the truth, but alas the curse of the 98 bit me again. The storytelling is powerful and the plot twists are quite interesting to read. The visual aspect of Vish’s writing comes out very nicely and a good example of this is the clock in Anushka’s room. While inanimate and stationary, the mere mention of it becomes a part of the storytelling. Every time you get to hear the events of the fateful night, you try and figure out the reason why and then you come to the climax, and suddenly it is not just the characters, you realise that you’ve been misdirected as well, and it is not just the people in the book, but by our very own storyteller in his signature style using the very elements he has included to help you keep on track in the story. The climax is something that some people might not agree with, however I feel that given the core idea of the book, it was a perfect way to close the story.
Coming to the characters, ACP Kamala Jha is a tenacious investigator and
I loved the way she has been integrated into the story. Even in the face of
the strongest challenge, she strives ahead in the face of truth. With the
stories that are being told to her, she takes her time and separates the chaff
from the wheat. The other characters-Anushka, Aanya, Siddharth, Monica, Piyush
and Dr. Aryan-each of them are a part of the story, whether knowingly or unknowingly
and after a point, you are not sure whom to trust because of the secrets that
are coming tumbling out. I loved how each character gets their time in the
story and then gets a graceful stage exit until the spotlight remains on the key
characters.
Haadsaa is a book that stupefies you, thrills you, confuses you, but at
the same time puts up a question-do we really know the people around us. The
book scores a 4.94/5 for me.
Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.
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