V. Sanjay Kumar

Simply stunning read about a police hit squad composed of officers with autism spectrum syndrome. As the parent of an autistic, I was truly shaken. Aspects of the syndrome make the central character Karan uniquely qualified in his tasks, but it takes its toll. The peek into the poverty and corruption of Mumbai is simply fascinating, as is Karan's marriage. The view remains unflinching right to the end. I was both relieved to escape and sad to leave this exquisitely drawn world. Offered as a "noir novel," I'd recommend this amazing story to more than just fans of crime fiction. Kudos to the author, who got everything right.… (more)

A very well-written and thought-out noir crime novel set in Bombay about a hit-squad created by the police to take out criminals who can't easily be brought to justice. The hit-men all "Aspies", guys with Asperger Syndrome, who in theory can follow orders and feel no remorse. Highly recommended for those into noir fiction, and maybe for those interested in Indian fiction, although it's very dark. My only incredibly minor suggestion is that the book could have included a glossary of a few dozen Hindi terms used in the book that were a little difficult to figure out from the context.… (more)

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I completely enjoyed reading this thriller in the noir tradition, set in modern-day India. The plot is unusual: a police unit of assassins, in which all the assassins have Asperger's syndrome. It seems an unlikely premise that the police could have their own assassination squad with seemingly little oversight, but I was willing to suspend disbelief in order to follow the story to its perhaps inevitable conclusion. In the classic noir tradition, many of the characters have both good and (sometimes very) evil qualities; some who should be good are in fact not good at all, and nearly all the characters have a complicated relationship with good, evil, and even truth. I may be a bit biased, because I love reading stories set in India, and thought that the liberal use of (untranslated) slang was a lot of fun, as well as the tours through Mumbai neighborhoods. The right person could make this into a really interesting movie....… (more)