A sharp tale of contemporary India that reminds you slum dog millionaire just isn’t it. Full of quips, pointed remarks at the hypocrisy of western superiority, a just about white saviour, parading as a do gooder nun, and a Whole Lot of Corruption.

Ramesh is an education consultant, a smart guy for hire, a stand in for your lazy underacheiving middle-class son who, with all the pocket money in the world, still cannot be bothered to study for his exams, but is expecting a work visa to America and a job on Wall Street to appear in thin air.

Almost a book of two halves, we are settled in learning about our narrators' upbringing and various exploits, before the stakes are driven up 10 fold with a double, or was it triple? crossed kidnapping chase across Delhi.

At times the plot may have moved a little faster than necessary, but remember I am reader of slow burns and plotless pacing, I’m sure most will find the speed compelling.

A book I would lovingly refer to as, a satirical romp. Read it and laugh and maybe learn and thing or two too.

Brilliantly written hardhiting thriller that grips you from the start til the end amazing characters explosive suspense what a debut bravo.

On the whole, this is a fast-paced and funny novel, though very much split into two halves - the first a sharp and satirical look at modern India that covers the background of Ramesh, the narrator, the second a comic thriller detailing the escalating numbers of kidnappings he has to commit to cover up a more minor original crime. I very much preferred the first half and found the second increasingly ridiculous - although it was action-packed, it didn’t hold my attention and as a result it didn’t pack much of an emotional punch by the end. It’s not really my genre so may well appeal more to others for whom the thriller plot is the primary draw. I did learn a lot about modern India and in the first half found the characters sympathetic and well-drawn. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I needed something a bit light and this comedic cracker of a novel on fraud and ambition in Delhi hit the spot perfectly. ⁣
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Ramesh is a chaiwallah’s son who has risen to become an ‘educational consultant’. He provides his clients a gateway to the ‘whitest lives’ by taking exams on behalf of lazy, entitled kids whose parents are able to purchase their futures. His life changes when his client Rudi becomes the All India Topper, catapulting him to fame and wealth as a television star on a Slumdog Millionaire-esque game show - with Ramesh as his blackmailer, manager/assistant, and babysitter. The novel opens with Rudi and Ramesh being kidnapped, which entangles them in a convoluted web of events that includes a few further kidnappings, accusations of spying for Pakistan, a construction magnate and his Tendulkar-signed cricket bat, and the saffron hysteria of a BJP-like political party. ⁣
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This is an absurdly and cruelly funny novel that casts a sharp eye on the greed, opportunism and injustice rife in contemporary India. ⁣
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