10th Book of 2023
Well, in my quest to read fiction books, the 3rd book in the row that I picked up was a 166-pages short thriller written by Mansi Babbar named “Body of Work”. The book is presented by Ravi Subramanian, the author, I believe to be India’s best thriller and mystery novelist. It is because of him I started reading thrillers but never found anyone come closer to him in my reading journey of 13 years. This book also has a tagline which says “Mortality is the ultimate art”. The story is about a young reporter, Raina, who attends a party of a celebrity called Hera unwillingly. She is still excited to be there as she wants to collect evidences against Hera so that she can bring her evil truth in front of the world. The whole book is all about what happens with both these main characters in that one night which changes their life forever.
Talking about Mansi’s writing style – I must say her command over her writing and editing is satisfactory. She has used some terrific ways to narrate few scenes. The way she has managed to explore Raina’s personality through her words and story tells a lot about her efforts behind creating her character. All the other characters are also appropriately mentioned in the book and has been given complete due without sidelining anyone. Not every author can manage to do justice with all the characters in such a short story which is majorly focusing on Hero vs Villain theme.
The first half of the book is quite slow which makes it hard for you to understand where the story is exactly moving. Author takes a lot of time to build the base behind that one night which then become 60% part of the book. The story actually starts moving from 70th-odd page after which you finally get interested in knowing what will happen next. The way Mansi has described the action and violent scenes are commendable as it’s not an easy task to make the readers visualize the exact state of one’s body and health after being subjected to immense physical torture. Reading all those sections were really scary and makes you think how insensitive and harsh few people in this world can be.
The pre-climax is when the exact thrilling quotient part of the book is explored when both- Raina and Hera starts talking to each other. Though the revelation is quite unpredictable but still couldn’t generate that impact which was expected. Literally speaking, I didn’t feel the urge of completing the book in a sitting or so which tells that author has not been able to narrate this thriller well to keep the readers excited. Even this being a short book, it took me 4 sittings to complete it because of its Bollywood kind of a treatment to the story. Even when a character is physically tortured for hours, he/she is able to run, fight and so everything possible. Even when they are being tied up, they are able to retort back in aggression while talking with people they know can harm them badly. All of this made me feel like I am watching a women-centric movie from the world of Bollywood where the protagonist is able to fight against the toughest villain and their team who can kill by just pressing a trigger.
Even the climax is abruptly ended where author could have played with our emotions – made us smile, cry, weep or think but it only makes you feel disappointed. Well, I had expected the book to be excited as Ravi Subramanian is presenting it but unfortunately, I can give this book an average 2.5 stars out of 5.
Thanks!
WRITING BUDDHA
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