Last week, I got to know about a novel from one of my book reviewer friends. It is the debut novel by Prasad Bag, Maya, the blindfolded: Her mistake? She trusted him. The novel is basically crime fiction, running on the runway of a murder mystery that gets dragged to the very end. However, in between, the novel offers many other things to the readers. Thriller and excitement linger throughout the storyline. Horror elements are also there in the form of ghost encounters, Hamlet-like ghosts appearing and hinting at the protagonist to find out the truth. Maya is the central character and she has been given the qualities of a protagonist by all means. Hardworking, young, understanding, passionate and later accused of murder. Perfect, isn’t it?

The saucy storyline begins with Maya getting irritated with her boss and Mrs Pinto at her workplace. Maya’s home maid getting killed, allegedly, by a ghost (Bhagat) as Maya’s neighbour Suzy tells her. Later, Maya slips into ghost encounters and starts to see the ghost of Bhagat who was the owner of the property where Maya lives. And the final rising point of this plot is where Mrs Pinto is murdered inside the office and Maya gets blamed for it. Now, the course of action shifts on Maya entirely as she has to prove her innocence. Well, to make things worse for her, Maya loses her memory just after the murder and it is sure from the narrative that she is in big trouble.

The story of this novel rests on various hypotheses. One is that Maya actually sees ghosts. That would make the novel an interesting experience for many readers. The second is that Maya hallucinates. And in that case, the novel would make a further exciting read. And the third twist might be that Maya fakes these things, including her memory loss, to save herself from the crime. And believe me, all three seem possible as you go on reading the novel… only until things start getting revealed, one by one. And the final twist comes right at the end of the novel. Shocking!

The novel has been written in simple language and it serves the idea very well. Simple language adds value to the reading style of modern readers. Those who want to be entertained by reading novels will find the novel very interesting and exciting. The plot is nicely built and serves the purpose of entertaining the readers very well. It has a very nice build-up, revealing and shocking conclusion that fits the agenda of the horror and crime thriller together.

The only lacking part that I could find in the novel may be focused on less participation among subordinate characters. The focus is on Maya only and deservedly so. Well, it is my opinion and you can find your own downsides as you read the novel. I doubt you would find any if you just read it for the sake of getting entertained. The novel is entertaining and there’s no doubt about that. All the best!

Get a copy in Kindle format from Amazon India. The link to the book is below:

Click to get a Kindle copy of the book – go to the Amazon page to buy the book 

Review by Priya for BookWorm Reviews