Review of Pune Murder Chronicles by Manaso Sapre


Book Name         - Pune Murder Chronicles
Author                  - Manasi Sapre
Publisher              - Rumour Books
Number of Pages - 200
Publishing Year   -2014
Edition                  -Paperback
Price                     -299
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Rating : 3.5

Blurb
On New Year's Day, a man is found brutally murdered on the outskirts of Pune City. Pune's leading investigative journalist, Chakradhar, is shocked by this gory and puzzling crime. The dead man is found with multiple stab wounds in the shape of hideous smile carved on his face. Post-mortem results show that the wounds were inflicted with an old fashioned fountain pen while the victim was still alive. Chakradhar, assisted by his spunky kickboxer protege Mukta, a genius anti-social computer hacker Aatif, and Chakradhar's best friend Dr. Poonawala - an eccentric bumbling GP - is drawn into a spine-chilling investigation. The case starts spiralling out of control when bodies start piling up with the killer's signature - the smile carved on victims' face. As Chakradhar races on with determination to get to the bottom of this mystery, he uncovers a terrible secret in corporate Pune. But, even when he solves one clue after another, the architect of this crime puzzle - the murderer - is still at large. And, suddenly, Chakradhar is a target.

My Review

Intriguing cover image and compelling blurb makes the expectations of the readers sky high. I wouldn't say the book is disappointing but could have been better. The suspense was predictable.The narration is unique. Character craft is also good. Lack of novelty is the major drawback of the story. We feel like I have read this somewhere. 
Unlike the cliched , so called bestsellers , language of the book  is good. The book cannot be considered as easy breezy. Nor can it be counted as a cliffhanger.  It is a good effort from the author but could have been better with a little more polishing.
Reviewed for the publisher
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book as a complimentary copy in exchange for a honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

About the author

Manasi Sapre studied English Literature at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and got her Masters degree in Media Studies from the University of North Texas. Since 2002, she has worked has the Head of Content and Programming for various national Hindi and English TV channels. She has been part of the core leaership team at UT and has launched several successful channels in Movies an Kids television space. Her passion for cinema and animation, from acclaimed and award winning international cinema to Bollywood entertainers to Hollywood blockbusters, to Japanese anime, led her to conceptualise and head highly successful niche TV channels. Manasi is a compulsive esoteric reader. She loves 19th century Russian Novels, Marathi literature, modern literary suspense and horror from Scandanavia, Europe and Japan. Her studies and work have taken her to various parts of the worl and flamed her passion for literature and cinema. Manasi lives with her husband Ronojoy and their dog Myshkin in Mumbai. When not brainstorming about television content with a twist, she can be found mountaineering in North-East India and burning the midnight oil reader her favourite genre : murder mysteries.

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