This is the second book by D.R Downer I am reading and I like the way he writes. When I read his The Time Is Now, I must say I was pretty bowled over. The Airport does deliver a certain punch but the genre being different from The Time is Now, I had much more expectations.
Let me start with the story first. The story starts with a dead body in Jey Airways ( psstt.. I know which one you mean Mr. Downer). The police are baffled as to how a young guy drops dead with no history of enmity behind him. After a few rounds of checking up the corpse and CCTV footage investigation, the detectives come to know about the identity of the dead person and the cause of the murder. And then the chase starts to find the Killer.
Interesting enough. One of the things I am noticing about the short reads is that they are quick. Too quick. It does not let a reader soak into a character. Empathise with a death. Feel sorry for the victim. I felt this story has a lot of scope to become a full-fledged novel. There were moments I was running with Inspector Singh and felt very happy when he was speaking to a suspect, whom I suspected to be the killer also. But what really brought me down was the quick resolution of the scene. Clearly, I wanted more. I wanted my pulse to race. I wanted to feel the frustration. I wanted to feel sorry for Akshay. Give me that Mr. Downer.
Coming to the characterization of this novel, they are all well etched. I can't analyze much since the scenes are short but effectively executed. A nervous wife in a few sentences shows us the fear of a person when interrogated by the police. The cleverness of the Inspector is shown every time he is one step ahead of the game. I can smell a series here.
The cover for this book is good. Conveys the meaning of the story without looking homemade. Since the story starts in a plane, it worked out rather well.
This author is someone to look out for. A man of fewer words definitely but enough for me to keep on reading the book.
A Quote From the Book:
And you, sir, I don't know who you are and nor am I interested in knowing. You can call whoever you want to, it's a democratic country; but understand this, I can arrest you right now on the basis of suspicion and it'll be days before anyone would be able to find out your whereabouts.
First Line of the book:
‘May I have your attention, please? Jey Airways flight number 9W-313 to Mumbai is now boarding. Passengers are requested to approach gate number 2,’ the announcer’s voice echoed through the P.A. system in the T-3 terminal of the I.G.I. Airport, Delhi.
My Recommendation: Mystery lovers will love it. A quick read.
Author of the book:
Thank you for the review, Rubina! I'll try to work on your advice. :)
ReplyDeleteYou have a fan here Mr. Downer.
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