I read Private India as I am a big fan of Ashwin Sanghi’s books. But only while reading it, I realised that Ashwins’s name was just used to promote the book in India, and most of the writing was done by James Patterson.
The story mainly deals with how Santosh Wagh, the protagonist, and the head of Private detective Agency’s Indian branch, gets to solve the mysteries behind the murders that take place in the city of Mumbai. The murders are of people who have no relation with each other, and near each dead body are objects that are related to Goddess durga. Who is the killer? What is his motive? Does Santosh discover him?. All form the story.
Even I was very intrigued about the book’s plot and started to read with great excitement. But I found it worth of not even getting compared with Ashwin’s previous books. The story does not keep us engrossed till the end. The murders take place only after a few chapters. The language though, is pretty simple and easy to understand and makes the book readable. The killer is someone whom I could not guess at first, but could find it out towards the end.
Though there are touches of Ashwin’s writing in the book, its not an enjoyable read as the pace is not too fast and story not gripping. A disappointment for Ashwin Sanghi fans.