Six Suspects [Hardcover]

This book is really a great study of a writer's style - or in this instance, how adaptable Vikas Swarup's style really is. The story is a murder mystery with, you guessed it, six primary suspects. When Indian playboy Vicky Rai is acquitted of a murder he's blatantly guilty for, the nation of India is in an uproar. To celebrate, Vicky throws a party at which he is subsequently murdered. All 500+ guests are frisked and six suspects carrying guns are fingered. A dedicated investigative journalist aims to uncover the truth, at which point we learn all about the backgrounds, motives, evidence, and outcomes for the sacred six.

The 6 stories are extremely diverse in terms of both characters and style. Ranging from an American hick from the backwoods of Texas to a popular Bollywood actress / sex symbol to a corrupt bureaucrat or two, each section of the book is wholly devoted to that character and written in a different form, including third-person omniscient, diary entries, and perhaps most challenging - entirely in dialogue. Of course, there are wavers of connections between all 6 characters that pop up throughout the book giving the reader a bit of extra delight as you try to unscramble who the murderer actually is - in fact, you can envision the book as a bit like the movie Babel.

That being said, the success of the book really lies in the fact that it's not a murder mystery that focuses on its worthy victim or the crime - it's a murder mystery that looks at how six people from all sorts of backgrounds could possibly end up in the position of being accused of a murder, and the effects Vicky Rai's initial acquittal and subsequent death have on the Indian public.

I suppose the only criticisms I can offer are the fact the book can get a bit confusing and unlikely - for every realistic scene or incidence of kismet, you have to suspend your disbelief for something else that may seem wholly unfamiliar or bizarre to the typical North American reader. Also if you've never read a book set in India or with Indian main characters, I suggest doing so - there are a lot of cultural references and sprinklings of language that might be completely mind-boggling otherwise. Still, I enjoyed myself throughout the book and came to appreciate each of the 6 stories at one point or another - especially as the ending continues to unwrap the mystery once and for all.

What a story. This is Vikas Swarup's second novel; his first was made into Slumdog Millionaire. Set in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, six lives come together at a party celebrating the acquittal of Vicky Rai, playboy-son of a North India politician, for the murder - in public and in cold blood - of a bar waitress.

But which of the six suspects murdered Vicky Rai? Another corrupt politician? A famous Bollywood actress? Rai's sister's boyfriend? A "tribal" from the Andaman Islands, alone and adrift in modern-day India, just trying to return to his homeland? An idiot American from Texas who had come to India in search of life-long love?

I won't write more about the plot but just know that all parts of modern day Indian society is written about in this masterful mystery. It's a long book, but every page is interesting. Read it and enjoy.

After reading and thoroughly enjoying Q&A, I was very excited for this book to come out. I was not totally disappointed. Six seperate stories about six different suspects, all told in different genres and points of view. Some of the chapters are very long, so if you read a chapter a night, you might be pulling an all-nighter! The ending was quite disappointing. The author spends so much time building beautiful and intriguing characters, only to have the ending in a series of dry news bulletins that jump all over and can get confusing. By the end, you could care less whodunit, and just want to know what happened to the characters.