Book review: Six Suspects (2008) by Vikas Swarup. (S.A: Violence)

Welcome to my blog... Now is the time to take a seat as I take through my thoughts of Vikas Swarup's twisted and loaded novel Six Suspects (2008) by Vikas Swarup. This novel is definitely one to read! Especially as it heads towards the gripping ending, it is shock after shock after shock.

Take an evil and corrupt man, who commits crimes again and again yet somehow manages to evade any form of imprisonment or alternative punishment. This is a man who always gets what he wants. However, as the novel explores, some people are not happy with this man. The man Vicky Rai, murders a bartender who refuses to serve him a drink, having just stopped serving in the bar. Rai shoots the bartender dead and flees. When he finally gets off, he decides to celebrate his acquittal with a party. Throughout the novel we are met with six different people such as famous Indian actress Shabnam Saxena and Munna Mobile who is a phone thief from the Sanjay Ghandi Slums.

One thing I love about this novel is how it is laid out. It starts off with Vicky Rai committing murder then being announced as having been murdered at his acquittal party that he chose to have. Next Swarup introduces his readers to the 'six suspects'. To start it in this way was great because I felt that to solve the murder, you need the standard facts as they are. It was nice to then have each character's stories in great depth. Vikas Swarup could have established the victim after his acquittal and how he plans the party, inviting the six suspects. But then to go from that to their backstories of why they would want the victim dead? Confusing! He could have also considered having the party as the start and then worked his way through each suspect explaining their backstory. Although, yet again I find this would not make sense. I love that as readers we get to know more about each suspect, to build up a profile before we get to everything that happened when the party arrives. This is because for me I always read stories or watch stuff with crimes and want to work out who the culprit is.

With this novel, it took me a while to have a good idea as to who was behind Vicky Rai's death. Vikas Swarup has not made this obvious or easy and I admire that. When you write crime, you do not want it to be too obvious because then the writing becomes boring. At least if I have to try and work out who the killer is then it is keeping gripped as I await the next clue, knowing that there will be more until the truth is uncovered. Having read other Swarup novels, I find he has this way of enthralling me as a reader. Take this novel for instance: I find it to be entertaining, well written and surprising. As I do not know what is coming next, I am hooked, wanting to find out more. The more I read, the more I wanted to finish it. Every little detail has been thought about and the novel has a lot packed into it with a beautiful complexity. I am giving this a 10/10.


Until next time,


Thomas (they/them)

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