Book Review: SOAR

Mystery books from Indian authors are few and far between, so any such book should interest the average reader just by being. SOAR is not just a mystery book but is actually a mystery set in the modern world and could be tagged as a 'business-thriller'. This is the complete review of SOAR written by Abir Mukherjee.

SOAR begins with the story of a young man, newly married, who is working in the United States, and living with his wife. The reader is introduced to the kind of life that the man lives in the US and the cracks that are forming in his married life. And just when the readers think that all of it is going to implode, he is summoned immediately to India to help out his friends and co-founders of a business that he had bid goodbye to years ago.

Abir Mukherjee weaves an interesting tale that is a mixture of intrigue, drama, bittersweet life memories and emotions. Everything that a seasoned writer would have is there – the road less traveled one, that of non linear storytelling, the filling of characters by just telling the readers about accidents from their life, both past and present and other such nitty-gritty that makes SOAR An interesting read.

The best part of the writing is that Abir pays equal attention to the times when the protagonist was growing up with his group of friends, his love story back then, the tumultuous relationship that he has with his friends and wife now and the mystery that threatens To capsize their lives forever.

It is evident from the beginning that Abir is not a lazy writer. Not only does he work hard to tell the readers about how exactly the life of a IT professional is, he also goes on to explain the entire process of how the friends set up their own product – which is the one that finally throws them into the Jaws of trouble.

And just because he can, the author also gives a brief insight into the legal system and how a person can fall into a legal tangle in this big bad world.

The book is a decent mystery that has the right answers for anyone interested in what would be considered to be a digital crime – one concept that is even now just being tackled by not just Indian but even foreign authors. SOARS requires a hat tip just for that.

The one thing that rankings though is the manner in which the writing style dithers as the book progresses. What starts as an interesting style that shifts through the incidents to one that turns verbose and includes too much of jargon.

This is just the book that Indian fiction needs today, one of those that make the readers interested in what the author has written earlier and will be writing next.

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