Book Review: Hungry Gods by Richa Lakhera

Book Name: Hungry Gods

Author: Richa Lakhera

Publisher: Rupa

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 3.7/5

Book Blurb: Beaten and brutally raped, her body is never found. However, the killers make one mistake. They leave a witness, a witness who has nothing to live for except revenge. And when he crosses the boundaries of time to make the guilty pay, a whole lot of dark characters come to light. There is Valentine, the superstar brand ambassador who sells anything for a price; there is Medici, a pharmaceutical company fraudulently manufacturing banned drugs; there is the perverted and sinister minded Dr Ranga and there is Este, the prostitute whose dark secret will blow up a daughter’s sanity. So, is there another murder waiting to happen? Will Police Inspector Dorab Silva be able to connect the clues to prevent another crime? Will these gods of greed be exposed? And yes, you will be surprised by who you will find there, finally. Deeply unsettling, Hungry Gods takes a hard look at greed for wealth and power.

Review: Richa Lakehra’s Hungry Gods would fit into a thriller category. The book is fast paced, written in a racy language and can be completed in one siting. The plot is a bit convoluted but the ending is satisfactory and the reader won’t be disappointed in the end.

It starts with a murder and the plot hovers around the investigation. the murky world of pharmaceuticals and endorsements is also discussed. You only get a glimpse however, and the action takes precedence over descriptions.

The language is also contemporary, graphic descriptions of sex and gory scenes abound in this novel making it a thriller worth reading. The doses of blood and sex are liberal but not over the top and provided only when the plot demands it- as should be the case for any book.

The fundamental flaw in this book is that there is no sense of time (or place) and a casual reader may not get a good grasp of what’s happening between these pages. You sort of find yourself hovering in the midst of nowhere. The characters have names that are not relatable and its difficult trying to remember such weird names. Its understandable because the book has been written as a pacy thriller but without an adequate description of places and time, it becomes difficult for a reader to relate to the work or comprehend it holistically.

But the author’s omissions are made up in part due to the brilliant writing that frequently makes up for what is missing here, and in the end, you cannot help liking this book.

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