Book Review: Private India: Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson

I must first thank Blogadda for providing me the opportunity to review this book. I am an Ashwin Sanghi fan and when I saw the opportunity I readily applied for it and got overjoyed once I was selected. But I must admit that Private India to some extent disappointed me. The book is no way can be called a trash, and quite a page turner indeed. If this book has been written by an amature I would have given 5 out of 5. But this is written by Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson and I do have extremely high expectations from them which they surprisingly unable to keep. So in this case I will give only 3 out of 5.

The plot of the book is quite ordinary and at times devoid of logic. Of-course it is a fiction, but still the lack of reasoning in a few instances baffles me, especially when you consider it is an Ashwin Sanghi creation who is the master of creating a logic in fiction. His earlier classics (I have read all of them) are so well researched. The plot is based on a series of murder performed by strangulation using a yellow scarf and solving the mystery by “Private India”, an International private detective agency.

The Indian Police readily agree to let Private India handle the case. Never heard of this type of attitude in any country. Private detectives only investigate a case either along with the police or separately, (in fiction also including all the famous fictional private detectives around the world) but never do police stops their own investigation just because a private detective agency is handling the case just because of long backlogs of cases (that too for a series of murder investigation).

The book has pace, no doubt, but the storyline lacks enough spice to make the final punch. The book is too one dimensional (again, unlike Ashwin Sanghi) with lack of depth in the characters. The perception of India is also not very well portrayed (may be contributed by James Patterson as I could not think of Ashwin Sanghi making them). The book is just like a fast bowler having pace, but no swing or an action packed, fast paced movie without much of a story and logic.

Having said this I must agree that it is by no means unbearable (as I have already mentioned that it is not trash). Private India is a good fast paced action thriller, but I cannot rate it as a top notch action thriller. May be the extreme high expectation that I have on Ashwin Sanghi played a part. The Classic Sanghi is truly missing. I sincerely hope things will fall back to normal in his next creation and I will be able to enjoy it with full satisfaction as I have done with his previous classics. 

Overall, it is a good read (not exceptional) and many may enjoy the book if they ignore the loopholes a bit. But all the Ashwin Sanghi fans will get somewhat disappointed. Eagerly waiting for other classics from Ashwin Sanghi.

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