Thursday, 14 April 2016

#BookReview ; Surpanakha by Hariharan Iyer



Educated, young, no-nonsense bearing, able administrator-these are the equalities that won Sesha the loyalties of the people after three years of rule as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. An allegation that he was the mastermind behind the murder of 73 Kannadigas threatens to bring him down but he is miraculously saved at the 11th hour.
Even before he can relish his victory, Sesha is slapped with the charge of sexually offending a young nurse. This time around, the case is strong and his supporters are uncertain. Worse, his teenage daughter calls him 'vile' and walks out of the house. While Mythili, his wife promises her full support, her secretive activities-undertaken with the help of a retired cop-is cause of concern for Sesha.
Will Zarina, the human-rights activist, succeed in bringing him down? What about the insinuations of a celebrity lawyer that he is casteist and anti-minorities? When the young nurse is found dead, the case becomes even more complex. Who is innocent? Who is guilty? And who is the mastermind?

Surpanakha is the debut work of finance professional Hariharan Iyer who started writing couple of years back. The author blogged on media & current affairs for a year & came up with the idea of writing this book. He tried to portray his definite views on politics, NGOs & media ethics through the story.

The story starts with a prologue where an ongoing case against the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Seshadri is taking place. The charge is that he supervised the killing of 73 Kannadigas but just before the verdict he got saved miraculously but then even before he could relish his victory he was slapped with another accusation of molesting a house nurse who took care of his wife Mythili when she was advised bed rest for three months. What worsened the situation was Sesha’s daughter calling him ‘vile’ & even showing mistrust in her father on national television. Will Zarina a well acclaimed social activist will be able to nail the CM? Is there any kind of link between the false allegation on the CM for killing 73 Kannadigas & the sexual molestation charge? Is there a nexus to destabilize the government? All these questions can be answered only if you read the book.

Hariharan Iyer wrote this story with a mindset he has for politics, NGOs & media which is clearly visible through his story. The plot has been divided into chapters with specific names of characters from the story which made me think that each chapter will be the point of views of that specific character, while the book started on this premise but got deflected. The cover is uninspiring but the language used is easy. The story had some loopholes & spelling mistakes but still it was a smooth read. Readers interested in political thrillers can give it a try.



Buy Links:

Links for downloading e-books: Amazon India  | Amazon US  | Amazon UK 
Links for ordering paperbacks: Amazon India  | Flipkart

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