‘The Blue Bar’ by Damyanti Biswas

My Review (3 stars out of 5)

A Mumbai police officer striving to solve a spate of murders, finds himself hindered at every turn. It seems someone is keen to stop him tracking down a serial killer. Troubled by his own past, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput can’t escape the memory of his former lover, Tara, who disappeared years before. As he discovers the remains of dismembered bodies, he must also deal with corruption within the police force.  

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. Initially, it was the vibrant cover and the first few pages that grabbed my attention, but when I got several chapters in, the changing POVs and the addition of several characters with similar sounding names did confuse me a bit. As you’d expect with this type of police procedural, there’s the usual storyline around police corruption and political shenanigans. I liked the central character of Arnav, although his essentially kind-hearted outlook doesn’t make up for the familiar history of challenges he faces, and it would’ve been nice to see something different. Also, the pace of the story isn’t helped by all the regular descriptions of domestic activities. While these give us an insight into the day-to-day lives of the folk involved, they do nothing to move the plot forward.

Anyway, all whining aside, the author’s descriptions of Mumbai paint a vivid picture of the city, bringing the locations and atmosphere to life.

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