Review of 'Killing Ashish Karve' by 'Salil Desai'

Blurb: Senior Inspector Saralkar is back at his desk after spending a rather annoying week at a Secrets of Living course, especially for police officers and he is itching for some action now. Luckily, an exciting new case turns up right away!

The body of Ashish Karve, a local businessman has been found in the back seat of his car. To PSI Motkar, Saralkar's diminutive assistant, it seems to be a straightforward case of suicide. But Saralkar's sharp mind is agog with the dark possibility of murder. As the case unfolds Saralkar finds enough motives for people, be it Ashishs business partner, his wife, his brother, his friend, his brother-in-law or even strangers to want to do away with him!

Is the senior inspector becoming too fanciful in his imagination or is he on the right track in assuming that Ashish was killed?

Delve into this deliciously thrilling whodunit and walk along with Senior Inspector Saralkar and PSI Motkar as they set out to sift the truth from lies and half-truths.

Verdict: ‘Killing Ashish Karve’ is one of the two crime novels written by Salil Desai. This book can be called as a perfect murder mystery, written in a perfect way and the suspense was alive till the last page of the book.

This book was previously published by the name ‘The Body in the back seat’ but the author correctly changed the name in its new edition which sounds more interesting and will definitely drag more readers towards it. The cover is exceptionally designed and one of the best cover design I have seen in murder mysteries. The blood, the body on the back seat, everything looks perfect and I can feel the author saying after seeing the cover, ‘just the way I want it.’

Like any other Indian thrillers or murder mysteries, this book also have been written in a very simple language which can attract a vast number of audience. The author have the capability to turn things with his narrating skills. The sarcastic comments made by the main protagonist or by his assistant and the ghoulish humor injected by the author only makes the book all the more entertaining. I appreciate the author for choosing such a narrating style which helps him describing every scenes in details without revealing much. Though I felt few characters can be described in a more detailed way but then in a murder mystery the author can’t describe everything.

The characters were planted very efficiently and made very delicate according to the story line. The reader can never feel that there is one single character who doesn't have a vital role to play in this story. Unlike other thrillers, which often introduce numerous characters to confuse the readers, this story have limited number of characters and one can very well start his own investigation based on the given information without missing one. As I said earlier if there was a bit more description about the characters, it will help the readers to visualize more clearly.

The storyline is very well framed and described in a similar disciplined manner. The author hasn't lost any time and have jumped into the main course from the very first page of the book without giving the readers much room. Once the main protagonist Inspector Saralkar and his assistant PSI Motkar starts their investigation one can’t put the book down. At one time I felt that all the characters in this story have the motive to murder Ashish Karve, where I think the author is successful. Kudos to the author for choosing such uncommon names which sounds familiar in this particular scenario.

The narrating style is very smooth and will help the readers to go with the flow without noticing any flaws. But after knowing the culprit at the end, I felt this a bit unacceptable and disappointed but the motive is though genuine and can lead to murder. May be if the culprit was someone else the ending would have been more thrilling. The book has a much maintained speed and the author was effortless in keeping the twist till the end. Apart from these minor draw backs I loved the book.

Final Words:  As the title suggest, this book is one unique murder mystery novel which will give the readers a nail-biting experience till the last page and will also keep them entertained all through the journey (read investigation).

Title: Killing Ashish Karve – An Inspector Saralkar Mystery
Author: Salil Desai
Publisher: Fingerprint
Page Count: 259
My Rating: 4.25/5

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