A review by varunob
The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 "A Hindu theologian is dead."

Five words that would have India on the streets. And not just today, but pretty much anytime in the last four decades. That we didn't get here without "help" is obvious, and The Shadows of Men, the latest entry in Abir Mukherjee's Sam Wyndham series, probes this increasingly familiar space of the Indian psyche.

The crime-busting duo of Wyndham and Surendranath Banerjee has never played with fire quite so fiendish and must tread carefully in a case that'll take them further than they've ever been before.

Following Death in the East, which explored some grim spaces (to say the least), The Shadows of Men is instantly lighter - in weight and in tone. It seems to talk about the light in dark times, while duking it out with bigotry-infused nationalism.

Despite the tonal shift from the previous two books, The Shadows of Men is seldom in danger of slipping off the ladder (or falling off the wagon, as Wyndham could-would-should). The novel's true value lies in seeing just how naturally the "lighter" writing comes to Mukherjee, and how he treads the path between portraying and preaching.

And because this is Mukherjee, a man who can safely fictionalise history from the distant shores of England, we get mirrors of the Indian leaders of the time who sought to slice-and-dice the country, and there's a brief appearance by a certain Mayor of Calcutta, who is used to tremendous effect in what is his second appearance in the series.

The other parallels - to the Muslim League and to the Hindu far-right organisations of the time - are easy enough to spot, though Mukherjee prefers to leave them in the background.

The most notable difference from the earlier novels is in Mukherjee's choice of narrator - while Wyndham remains the protagonist, chapters alternate between his point-of-view and Suren's, and Mukherjee pulls out the stops in etching a deeper arc for the character. It is a promotion for Suren, who rises to the occasion.

The travels and travails of the duo are yet another point of interest - though Calcutta cops, this is their third of five cases to be tackled outside the erstwhile Indian capital. That Mukherjee chooses to leave aside the parts of Bombay that don't fit in with his world might seem a curious call at first (did to me) but it adds to the book - gives it the edge it doesn't always carry, makes it more eerie.

I do have a quibble with the book: it's far too short, and what makes these books so damn delectable is the length, for it permits you to get lost in this long bygone world. It isn't quite as daring as the previous two either, which is a shame because the ideas Mukherjee has are solid ones. It's the series middler - the separator, if you will, one that has some of the better aspects of A Rising Man and A Necessary Evil but doesn't quite match up to Smoke and Ashes and Death in the East. Still, it's a damn good book, and anyone with a soft spot for the genre or for Mukherjee will take to it quite readily.