Book Title: The Aravan Head
Author: Arvind Narsima
Total Number of Pages: 220
Publisher: Inspire India
Publication Date: 1 Jan 2017
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Crime / Thriller / Suspense
BOOK BLURB
A politically driven criminal syndicate tries to steal a valuable ancient artifact, The Aravan Head, from a very old temple of the transgenders in Hijravan. Police officer Arya foils the well planned attempt. The incident unfolds a deadly secret that connects to a series of mind-boggling crimes which points to an unlikely person of tremendous authority in the political & business circles of Mumbai. With his friends kidnapped, his own people involved with the criminals and himself facing departmental enquiry, Arya is strangulated from all sides. Meanwhile in Delhi, 4 college girls, fed-up with the canteen food, hire a cook. While they expect an old, typically professional person, they are in for a great surprise that leaves them sweetly shocked. But the surprise is short lived after a beautiful transgender arrives at their bungalow revealing secrets that baffle them. Unfortunately the lives of the 4 girls become a nightmare along with that of the transgender. Did Arya arrest the main perpetrator behind all the crimes? What dangers did the Transgender bring to the girls? Did they survive the deadly situation they were pushed into? What price did Arya pay to win?
REVIEWED BY SOHINEE DEY
The Aravan Head written by Arvind Narsima is a crime thriller which revolves around the main element of the story, Aravan. Aravan is considered to be the patron God of well-known transgender communities called ThiruNangai. Aravan also played a small role in the Hindu Mahabharata. In this book, the male protagonist, Arya is on a mission to find out the root cause of the theft of the Aravan Head and also find the person involved in this heist.
Read My Previous Review of Letters in The Rain by Anubhav Srivastava and Ananya Roy
The thievery is actually backed by political motives of a criminal syndicate. The relic of Aravan Head is stolen from a well-known temple in Hijravan. Arya, who is an honest police officer takes it upon himself to investigate on this case. He does tend to take matters into his own hands and investigate in his own way, not always binding by law and order. These days we come across incidences where even the police officers turns out to be corrupt.
To reach to the actual culprit, Arya has to solve many mysterious cases and when he finally reaches to the point of revelation, he is shocked with the discovery.
This book addresses many of the stereotypes and social taboos of our society. I loved how the author brought in a transgender character into the story. Though the inclusion brought problems for the college girls but still I am happy to be introduced to diverse characters. Also, other issues related to corruption and trafficking are talked about in this book.
As Arya tries to solve each cases which inevitably leads to missing of the ancient artefact, Aravan Head, he faces many difficulties and obstacles. Not only he finds himself in danger but his friends and family also faces threats and are harmed.
Will he be able to unravel the mysteries and find the culprit?
This book is not only a crime fiction but also has drama, suspense and love added into the plotline. It has got action and adventure imbibed in each of the pages. The plot though seems simple on the outside, is not at all simple on the inside. The weaving of the various sub-plots into the storyline made it more interesting and entertaining. I wasn’t predicting the kind of climax the book had at all, though I wouldn’t say I was surprised but I would say that I never saw that coming!
The language was extraordinary! It’s very rare to find books by Indian authors with such good language. The author has an extensive knowledge of sentence structuring and impressive vocabulary skills. The narration flowed smoothly. The characters were well portrayed. Grammar and Punctuation on point!
The past-present shifting took me some time to get used to it but once I got accustomed to the writing style, I was with okay with it. I would have preferred if the title was more interesting. It was a bit simple in my opinion considering this book is a combination of mystery and crime.
MY FINAL VERDICT
An action packed thriller that is going to keep you on the edge of your seat!
RATINGS:
Book Cover: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Book Title: ⭐⭐⭐
Plotline: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Writing Style: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Narration: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Language and Vocabulary: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Grammar and Punctuation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
POESY IN CHRYSALIS RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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