A compelling, crime saga following the dark and gritty underbelly of Delhi, India. This opens with a car accident that kills three road-dwellers (a scene reminiscent of The White Tiger). We come to know that Ajay, who has taken the fall for his master, work for the Wadias. We follow his story and that of his boss, Sunny and his journalist lover, Neda. The storyline is a bit convoluted at times, but the characters and the voice had me hooked with an incredible propulsion. I loved the setting and the vivid details of the environment. The threads of the storylines aren’t tied up, which can be frustrating for some readers, but I’ve read that this is the first of a trilogy. I’ll definitely come back for the next instalment.

Revolving around the powerful Wadia family, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed novel that kept me frantically turning page after page.

We open to a car crash at 3am in New Delhi, before following a variety of characters through time and place to slowly uncover the story behind this incident.

From the affluent ares of New Delhi, to the villages of star Pradesh, Age of Voce is a tale unlike any other I've ready. It's not for the faint-hearted.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The books tells the story of contemporary India through its criminal underbelly. At its core are three seemingly unconnected protagonists, whose paths intertwine through a series of personal disasters and traumas. Ajay is a dalit, whose life is turned upside down when his mother sells him into slavery in the early 90s. Sunny is the dandy son of a politically connected gangster-turned-business-man. Neda is the daughter of a left-leaning liberal and educated couple in Delhi. Their lives, as well as those of their friends and family, is explored in meticulous detail, with the relationships and power struggles that make contemporary India tick. It is also a story that is soaked with deep cynicism about the ability to escape, at least within India, markers of caste, sex, education, heritage, etc.

It is probably the best novel I read this year. It also stands out among the many books written about post colonial India (e.g., White Tiger, A Fine Balance), as it uses the format and the rhythm of a thriller (a mafia thriller, at that) to expose and lay bear complex topics that sit at the core of India's social tensions. The intertwining of the two is remarkable - while the human aspect part of the book keeps tearing at the reader's soul the thriller part forces one to keep going in an almost addictive way.

From a pure form perspective the book is excellent - the pacing is spot on, the characters feel like you got to know real people, the almost telegraphic nature of the language creates a rhythm to reading that I rarely experienced (other than perhaps with Octavia Butler), and the movement back and forth in time and location was done in a way that contributed to the plot rather than becoming a trick.

I think most readers would love it: it's a great thriller that keeps the heart beat up, it's a nuanced and sensitive character study of torn individuals, and it's a stark reminder of what life in India can really be like for some people

It is full of lifelike characters with complex and compelling backstories,

This has to have been one of the best books I have read all year, and I read a lot!.It is so well written, has great character development, a good plot, great pace while being unique. The insights into the life for rich and poor in New Delhi is incredible and how it impacts each sector of society.At the same time telling the story of Ajay and his hard life in contrast to Sunny is mesmerising. The love affair between Sunny and Neda from each of their perspectives is the emotional backbone of this story.
A highly recommended read.

Age of Vice captivated me from the start with a dramatic and devastating car crash, Deepti Kapoor then takes you through the lives of the three main characters on how they got to this point and how it affected them going forwards. Full of excess, hardship, traditions, corruption and at times violence - I loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read Age of Vice.

What an excellent book. This is set in India where, despite the modern setting it soon becomes clear that a lot of the old customs and beliefs remain. At the heart of the story are 3 characters from very different backgrounds. Ajay is born in poverty and continually struggles to come to terms with what happened to his family and with his bid to improve his lot in life. Sunny is the playboy son of a rich man who wields great power in the district and uses his power for corruption. Neda is an idealistic journalist who finds herself tangled in the lives of both men with life changing consequences. The characters are richly drawn and the writing is very atmospheric making you feel that you are actually there with Ahay and experiencing his struggles. A sweeping saga which keeps you gripped.

An engrossing and immersive read that starts with a bang, that hooks you in immediately. However the story failed to sustain my attention and I felt incredibly underwhelmed.
There’s been a car crash and the people sleeping on the pavement have been driven off. The culprit is Ajay, who works Sunny Wadia, a rich young man in Delhi. Ajay gets arrested and it is clear that he is covering for someone, as the poor often do. Then the story flashes back to Ajay’s childhood and it’s here the story structure lost me. We follow Ajay, as he’s sold and handed from master to master. The daily minutiae is painstakingly described at the cost of sacrificing pace and story. It isn’t until about 20% in that some semblance of a plot appears, but even that eventually dissipates as more characters are introduced and the story continues to become more and more diluted. I couldn’t keep up with all the characters. A convoluted plot and characters I ultimately couldn’t connect with.
I think the story was missing tension and conflict. The narrative style is very and then this happens and then Ajay did this and then Ajay was told to do that. Even though the story was full of violence and explosion, I was somehow bored.
I’m quite familiar with Indian culture and love bingeing shows like Mirzapur, Patal Lok, Delhi Crime and Sacred Games, which are all very gritty. But ultimately Age of Vice takes long to set the stage up that by the time you get to the end the story whimpers out (apparently there is a sequel coming out). I tried my best, but this book just didn’t work for me. Obviously this is my opinion as this novel has glowing reviews, so try it yourself and make you own judgement.

Punchy & direct, often brutally violent Age of Vice is a story told at a relentless pace.

There are 3 different characters in this book each telling a story from their perspective. We have Ajay who is just a child when he is taken from his family and sold into service. Years later, when he impresses the glamorous Sunny Wadia, he is taken into his employ and a new life begins. Sunny is the son of the powerful and corrupt Bunny Wadia, a man running a corrupt mafia-like operation that pervades every level of life in the country but Sunny wants out. Neda is a journalist who falls for Sunny Wadia and into his excessive lifestyle and complicated life.

The author has skillfully given us three individuals full of human indecisions, doubts and flaws. While I sympathised with all the characters at certain points in the story, they could all also be pretty unlikeable.

India itself was an integral part of the story and was my favourite character. Even though much of the book shows the dark underbelly of the country, it is a place I find endlessly fascinating.

I really enjoyed this pacy story with its gritty and powerful prose and it’s certainly one I’ll be recommending.

A huge book - 560 pages - but wow! Set in India in the 2000s, it starts with a fatal car crash and the arrest of a servant who cannot explain himself and it finishes with a climax that just explodes! Told through three perspectives and written in a non-linear structure that does throw you off course occasionally, we follow Ajay, Sunny and Neda and I thoroughly expect that for you, like me, Ajay will be the one you feel for as his story is heart-breaking and the decisions that he has to make difficult. Sold by his mother he eventually comes into the service of Sunny Wadia, the playboy son of Bunty Wadia - a wealthy business from Uttar Pradesh who runs Delhi through corruption and violence. With his money, he controls everything and everyone who steps into his circle. Sunny is the son and heir and his extravagant lifestyle is famous. We see life through his eyes, the son trying to live up to his father's expectations. Our final main character is Neda, a journalist who falls under Sunny's spell. In this book we see their lives as they are changed in various and many ways, particularly by the car crash from the beginning of the book. Other characters also step onto the stage, an interesting one being Bunty Wadia's brother, Vicky, who is shadowy and dangerous. It is a long time since I have read such an epic book like one. This is a story, a thriller, full of action, corruption, gangsters, luxury and poverty that kept me engrossed. The ending left me on a knife edge and from what I have read, I understand that this is the first book in a trilogy. I can't wait.

This is an absorbing read, exposing the ruthless crime of India and the impact of the caste system. One of the most loveable characters is Ajay, a boy from the mountains sold by his mother to an important gangster. He does everything from serving drinks to killing his boss Sunny’s enemies or just people he dislikes. He goes to jail for his boss as required but police corruption gets him out again as soon as they realise he serves the Wadia family. Then there is a journalist, Neda, who wants to expose the family’s corruption but who is in love with Sunny. Starting in Uttar Pradesh and moving to Delhi the book gives breathtaking information about the gangster families of India. It is a roller coaster read, full of convincing detail and disturbing events. I loved it and recommend it.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Age of Vice
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Deepti Kapoor
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Literary Crime Thriller
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 3rd January 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3/5

TW: this book needs a whole bunch of trigger warnings, I’ll try to remember what I can, substance misuse, murder, child abuse, rape, sexual assault, human trafficking, abortion/baby loss

”I love beauty. I want to create beautiful things. But that’s the last thing they understand. They want me to have a beautiful surface and be rotten to the core, like they are.”

Age of Vice focuses on power, what people do to attain it, and what happens to the people around them who do have it. This whole book feels like a dark power trip, the only character who doesn’t seem to want power is Ajay, who is surrounded by all sorts of morally grey characters.

Which may be why I couldn’t wait to finish this book. I struggled to emotionally connect to any of the other characters, other than Ajay, and to be honest, I kind of just wanted the rest of them to murder each other and be done with it 😂. Any meaningful scene seemed to be drawn out with smoking or drug taking, making the book feel way too long.

But there really was so much to love. The writing was deeply philosophical, something I haven’t come across in a crime novel before. The story was a delivery of brutal, harrowing, a little bit soul-sucking trauma underneath the umbrella of a truly great premise. There were so many twists in the plot that I found it chaotic, my mind struggled to keep up with what was happening. There seemed to be so many subplots introduced and then thrown away, I endured readers whiplash.

My first thought after I finished this book was ’how does such a full bodied story leave so many questions unanswered’ and then I read in others’ reviews that this is actually the first of a trilogy, which makes much more sense of why it ended the way it did. I’m disappointed I didn’t enjoy this more. I would read the others in the trilogy if they weren’t as long.

🧚🏻‍♀️

The haves and the have nots of India. opposite extremes indeed can be found in this book.
We move from a present day car accident, resulting in the deaths of five people, to learning about the story of the man found behind the wheel, starting with his childhood.
This book is a saga that covers power and corruption, wealth and poverty over several timelines.

We start in the middle of our story where a flash car jumps a kerb and ploughs into a bunch of people. Killing five. The driver is arrested, taken away, and incarcerated.
We then rewind to meet Ajay, a young boy who is taken away from his family, sold by his mother and he grows up working for another family far away. He eventually leaves them too and meets Sonny Wadia, playboy son of a very wealthy influential man. And then there's Neda a young journalist and how she fits into the story. We follow our trio as their journeys intersect and, well, as everything points to the initial car crash and the repercussions thereafter.
It's all a bit convoluted. It's way over 500 pages but once you get into it, it goes along at a fair lick. It's also, I believe, book one of a trilogy so, although this part ends well, the story doesn't end here. Be prepared to invest further...
Ajay, Sonny and Neda are three of the best characters I have experienced in a while. All completely different both in personality and aspirations and, how they interact is absolutely sublime. Other characters are just as well described and all play their parts very well.
And the setting - modern India - a place I know little about outside of some of the names of places I have come across in the IPL - is almost to be considered to be a character in its own right. The descriptions enhance and complement the narrative well throughout. Plotting is intricate and well executed and with no additional waffle or padding, gets on with itself very well indeed.
All in all, a cracking start to something I am hankering to continue. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This book is utterly fantastic! The sweeping epic starts with a car crash in New Delhi which results in the death of five people. From there we jump back and forward in time to follow the lives of three people whose lives intertwined to lead them all to that moment, as well as its aftermath.

The three central characters, each of whom have around a third of the book seen from their PoV, are all completely compelling. Ajay in particular is a fascinating character and I am so looking forward to learning more about him, having now found out that this title is the first in a trilogy. Neda and Sunny, a journalist and a gangster’s son (for whom Ajay works) respectively, are also very compelling, and the world they inhibit as a trio is dark and corrupt, but completely thrilling.

I won’t go into more detail as this is a book that deserves to be read with no spoilers, but I cannot recommend it enough. The writing is fantastic and the story is gripping from start to finish. I can’t wait for the next instalment!

Age of Vice is a packed well written thriller/family saga. I was hooked from the start by the car accident and imprisonment of the family servant. Once hooked I enjoyed the epic tale, binge reading the 500 pages. This book is a true page turner.

A real thriller with complex and interesting characters developed throughout the book. I really enjoyed how the character chapters were not chronological as became impossible to put down, wanting to find out reasonings behind their actions.

This book is about the incredible opposites of India - poverty and obscene riches, morality and degeneracy, life and death. I was enthralled from the beginning as the characters are so well depicted - although the timelines move around during the course of this quite long book, if you pay attention to the dates at the beginning of each new part it certainly helps. Shantaram is one of my favourite books and in parts Age of Vice had similarities but sadly for me the ending felt too abrupt and not well explained. There was some beautiful almost poetic writing within this epic book.

Very poor download/E-book, not readable at all. Please update or upload a better file. Deleted straight off my kindle as it is not possible to even attempt to read.

4.5* Age of Vice is a book that gets its hooks into you, as you get sucked into a complex family web of money, violence and corruption. It is being touted as a book of 2023 and rightly so … it would be very difficult not to appreciate how good this is.

The books starts with a shocking car accident, as 5 people are run down by the car of a rich man. That event is at the heart of a tale which starts many years before and continues afterwards.

When Ajay’s father dies his mother sells him to child traffickers. The smart and loyal Ajay ultimately winds up in Delhi and working for Sunny Wadia, the waster son of a rich dynasty. Full of family politics and a Godfather style undercurrent, over a lengthy span the narrative is a brilliant jigsaw which deftly fits together. The book is a little long, with some superfluous storylines along the way but overall it is a fantastic read. I hope many of these characters return for another chapter.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for an ARC.

It took me a while to get into the writing style as sometimes it was almost like bullet points.
Characters are so well developed and couldn’t wait to get back to them if the story switched perspectives
Great read