A thousand scars

Book Title: A thousand scars       Author: Sharmishta Shenoy Format: Kindle Published By: Sharmishta Shenoy  ASIN & Edition: B09WRJW4V9 & 1st No. of pages: 314 Rating: 3.5/5

About the Author
Sharmishtha Shenoy is the Author of “Murder in the Chowdhury Palace”, published by Vishwakarma Publications. She is also the Author of the Vikram Rana Mystery series. The books that are part of the series are Vikram Rana Investigates, A Season for Dying, Behind the Scenes and Fatal Fallout. Murder in the Chowdhury Palace, A Season for Dying and Behind the Scenes has reached #1 in hot new releases.

Her short stories have been published in reputed magazines. She loves writing murder mysteries, the kind of books that she herself likes to read. Before starting to write, she had been an IT professional and had worked in TCS, Satyam, Infosys, and Microsoft. Like most Bengalis, she is a big foodie and enjoys Biriyani (both Hyderabadi and Awadhi versions) and rasgullas. She is also a lusty singer of the bathroom singing variety. Though she is happily married to Mr. Shenoy in real life, she is wedded to her creation, Vikram Rana, in her fantasy world. You can get to her blog by typing the word “Sharmishtha Rana” into Google. No, seriously, try it. She was born in Calcutta. She is an M Tech from the University of Reading, Great Britain and had received a 100% British Government Scholarship to study there. She lives in Hyderabad.

About the book               
Book 1: The Hunter

Kalki Sen is kidnapped. The kidnapper calls her mother, taunting her but promising to release Kalki. However, Kalki is finally found only as a mutilated and decomposed corpse in the Rabindra Sarobar Lake. Kalki’s ex-boyfriend Amit becomes the prime suspect of the Kolkata Police.

However, it soon emerges that Kalki is not the only victim of the kidnapper. Is a sadistic serial killer on the loose in the streets of Kolkata? ACP Das of the Kolkata Police is convinced the other kidnappings are just a smokescreen set up by Amit. Amit’s mother, Gargi Ghosh, turns to Vikram Rana to prove her son’s innocence. Sexual perversion, vicious violence, and intuitive intelligence – the devastating makeup of a psychopath masquerading as a normal person who, to the outside world, leads an unremarkable, inoffensive life. Who is the cunning killer who finds ultimate gratification in torturing and killing young women? Is it Amit? And if Amit is not the killer, can Vikram Rana save him when ACP Das is after his blood? 

What to expect
Expect a good story with close-knitted twists and surprise elements.
Expect a story where the Indian Police show their investigative prowess.
Expect a story with mystery, murder, drama and emotions in a balanced format.

Who can read?
The book is written in a rich language with a captivating story. The book is undoubtedly for those readers who endure mystery and thriller without waning for the amount of gore and violence. Some elements might not be comfortable to weak hearted readers, and hence if they want to pick up, a caution about the violent story will be helpful. Apart from this, the book will engage every reader.

My Thoughts
Certain books remain in minds for a long time for various reasons. It might be the emotional attachment with the story and incidents or the characters. There are also some books where platonic love develops on some characters. Similarly, Vikram Rana captures everyone’s minds in Author Sharmishta Shenoy’s books. This is my 4th book by the Author, and I am absolutely delighted to read this part of the next series.

The elements of sadistic serial killer, abduction, targeting young women and killing them and such that are needed for a thriller story are very much present in this book – A thousand scars, Book one: The Hunter!

Grammar & Vocabulary
A super-fine language with insisting vocabulary is found in the book. Unlike other books where Vikram Rana investigates, this book is more sophisticated and exciting.

Writing Style
This book has 21 chapters, and Author Sharmishta managed to retain the thrill till the end of the book. Every chapter renounces the excitement of the story to guess what the next chapter will be. Though there are places where the readers can comprehend the story, the writing just nabbed speculative minds.

What did I like?
1. The plot.
2. The descriptive narration.
3. The characters and their scope in the story.
4. Vikram Rana – the most desired person.

What could have been better?
The book is a reader’s delight, and there is no chance to pick up any drawbacks.

Entertainment quotient
This is a story with every wanted attribute to make the story readable. It is a perfect entertainer.

Pick it if
you like domestic thrillers.
you want fast-paced murder stories.