Ayingbi Mayengbam, a well-meaning primary school teacher, wants to take on some part-time work over the summer, ideally a job through which she can help people. When her first day as a volunteer at a suicide hotline ends in her finding a dead body, she is done with this line of work. But soon, she is approached by the winsome Dr Rastogi, a man who runs another suicide hotline with a more altruistic approach, and she is unable to say no.
While initially shy and uncertain, Ayingbi learns quickly, her warmth and sincerity enabling her to connect well with callers, her fierce determination to save lives compensating for lack of experience. Over time, however, Ayingbi is confronted with an unfortunate realization: when working at a suicide hotline, you simply can’t save everyone. On top of that, there is something sinister afoot at Rastogi’s agency, least of which are the three phones in Ayingbi’s cubicle, one of which begins to ring without being plugged in . . .
Catagory: Crime, Thriller & Mystery
The Man Who Avenged Bhagat Singh
In 1929, Bhagat Singh surrenders after a daring bomb attack in the heart of Delhi’s assembly. Behind bars, he prepares for an ideological battle against the empire. However, a shocking betrayal shatters his world.
Phanindra Nath Ghosh, a trusted comrade, becomes a British approver, revealing every secret of the HSRA. His damning testimony leads to multiple arrests, and then the British hang Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdeo. Popularly known as the ‘king’s witness’, he had singlehandedly brought on an armed revolution.
But with their leaders gone and British oppression at its peak, surviving HSRA members rally around one burning desire: revenge. Their target is the man who dismantled their life’s work. But with limited resources, their hopes rest on a lone figure.
From the shadows emerges Baikunth Sukul, an unassuming teacher and devoted admirer of Bhagat Singh. He swears to exact revenge on behalf of the martyrs and the HSRA.
Will he succeed in this nearly impossible mission?
What happens when he locks horns with the formidable British Raj?
And to what lengths will he go to avenge Bhagat Singh’s death?
India’s journey to Independence was filled with deeds of forgotten heroes. This is one such story of sacrifice and revenge—of a patriot against a traitor, a common man against the empire.
The Girl with Broken Dreams
Five terminally ill, troubled teens commit suicide in their hostel rooms locked from inside.
Until one chilling truth reveals: murders.
But how is the killer passing murders as suicides inside locked rooms?
Simone Singh, a feisty CBI investigator struggling with her own mental health, is charged with solving the crimes. But time is running out as more teens start committing ‘suicide’ all over India. As Simone inches closer to the web of deception woven by the cunning killer, little does she know that the hunter is becoming the hunted. Can Simone take down the crafty puppeteer before her own mental demons bring her crashing down?
Riveting and relentlessly paced, The Girl with Broken Dreams will appeal to readers who crave determined heroines, heart-stopping mysteries, and psychological thrillers with a mind-boggling final twist.
Step into the twisted mind of The Girl with the Broken Dreams today!
Sakina’s Kiss
Venkat answers urgent knocks on the door to his flat one evening to find two insolent young men claiming to have business with his daughter Rekha. He deals with them shortly, only to find his quiet, middle-class life upended by a bewildering set of events over the next few days.
Even as Venkat is hurled into a world of street gangs and murky journalism, we see a parallel narrative unfold of a betrayal and disappearance from long ago. Could there be a connection? Set over four mostly sleepless days, we see Venkat lose grasp of the narrative even as he loses grasp of his wife and daughter.
Exquisitely translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur, Sakina’s Kiss is a delicate, precise meditation on the persistence of old biases—and a rattled masculinity—in India’s changing social and political landscape. Ingeniously crafted, Vivek Shanbhag interrogates the space between truth and perception in this unforgettable foray into the minefield of family life.
Curse of the Pir
Rajveer is a regular guy with regular aspirations. His life’s trajectory takes him to Jammu and Kashmir as a young assistant superintendent of police and from then on, it’s a roller-coaster ride, as he tries to balance his professional and personal lives. As both go through many changes, what remains constant is his dedication to the elimination of terror outfits, particularly the Lashkar-e-Jabbar, whose members are focused on an all-out war against the nation.
As the terror outfit intensifies its network in the state and carries out the most devastating attacks, Rajveer must think on his feet, juggling different aspects of a counterterrorism operation, leading from the front, all the time handling his family life as best he can. It’s a constant game of chess and hide-and-seek between him and the terrorists. This is the riveting story of an officer who will do everything he can to serve the nation.
Inspired by actual incidents, it is a thriller like no other, with revelatory insights into the workings of the mujahideen and the bravery of the Indian police forces.
Whisper in the Wind
‘All the stories in the world are whispered in the wind. Listen! And the wind will blow one into your head.’
These words, whispered by a madman, haunt Jamshed Fali Irani. The young heir to a business empire in Bombay, he is in Goa to try and pursue his dream of being a writer. Locked away in a crumbling, decrepit mansion, struggling to write as the monsoon rains down, the wind brings to him the cries of a little girl wandering the ruins nearby. Alice is trying to find her sister, Sara, who went missing years ago.
Jamshed makes a reluctant promise to help her and finds himself drawn into a story that is darker and more intriguing than any he could have imagined. With his new friend, Tania, to whom he is increasingly drawn, Jamshed attempts to unravel the mystery behind Sara’s disappearance.
Jamshed’s search leads him into a tangled tale of loyalty and deceit, at the heart of which lies murder. He has to find his way through a bewildering maze of contradictions as he tries to thread together answers to a mystery that involves a girl with the voice of an angel, a violin that plays the sorrows of the heart, and the bond between two friends who swear that not even death will do them part.
In this vividly written Gothic novel, alive with the sights and smells of pre-Independence Goa, Venita Coelho tells a captivating, suspenseful, sweeping tale like no other.
Forget Me Not, Stranger (Hindi)/Bhool Na Jana Ajnabi/भूल न जाना, अजनबी
मैं रिवाना बनर्जी, मुंबई हूँ। आपमें से कुछ लोग पहले से ही जानते होंगे कि मेरा जीवन किस तरह से रेज़र एज पर है। आपमें से जो नहीं जानते हैं, बस यह जान लें : हो सकता है कि मैं जल्द ही मारी जाऊॅं. . . अजनबी द्वारा। मुझे नहीं पता कि वह कौन है या क्या है : एक भूत, एक व्यक्ति या मेरी कल्पना की उपज? मुझे सिर्फ इतना पता है कि वह सिर्फ एक चीज़ नहीं है : वह सेक्सी है, भयानक और डरावना है।
मुझे समझ में नहीं आता है कि मेरे जैसी युवती, किसी का भी बुरा न चाहने वाली लड़की, जो एक बड़े शहर में काम करती है, अपने माता-पिता से दूर रहती है और एक असफल प्रेम से पीड़ित है, उसके लिए कोई दिलचस्पी क्यों लेगा! जब तक उसके बारे में कुछ ख़ास न हो।
मेरी अपनी कहानी, जो मैं ही नहीं जानती. . .
Sivakami’s Vow 4: Shattered Dream
To meditate lifelong at the feet of our lord-Kalki’s choice of Thirunavukkarasar’s words to end his magnum opus, Sivakami’s Vow, is indicative of the shift from romance to reflection, from the mundane to the spiritual.
Nine years have passed since Narasimha Varmar has ascended the throne to the Pallava kingdom … nine years that the dancer Sivakami has spent as a captive of the Chalukya emperor, Pulikesi. In that time, the Pallava emperor has been preparing to wage a bloody war against the Chalukyas-to fulfil his promise to Sivakami and his father. But the duties of a sovereign have driven him to make difficult choices in his personal life. Will friendships and allegiances change on account of this? With the passage of so much time, does Sivakami still yearn for vengeance? And what have the last nine years meant for the Pallava commander-in-chief, Paranjyothi, and the conniving bikshu, Naganandi?
As Kalki expertly weaves together various strands of honour, love and friendship in this fourth and final volume of Sivakami’s Vow, he takes the reader through a gamut of emotions. It is no surprise that this novel is considered a classic.
The Vegetarian
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
‘A strange, painfully tender exploration of the brutality of desire indulged and the fatality of desire ignored… Exquisite.’ Eimear McBride
Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people – dutiful wife and mild-mannered office worker. One day, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares, Yeong-hye decides to become a vegetarian. But in South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, it is a shocking act of subversion.
Yeong-hye’s passive rebellion rapidly manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, from sexual sadism to attempted suicide, and in increasingly erotic and unhinged artworks, as all the while she spirals further into her fantasies…
Disturbing and beautiful by turns, The Vegetarian is a revelatory novel about modern day South Korea; a tale of shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others.
A Line to Kill
By the global bestselling author, Anthony Horowitz, the third novel in his acclaimed Hawthorne and Horowitz series. The Russian mafia, a strange religious order and not one but two murders – stand by for a hugely enjoyable, twisty turny read.
‘EASILY THE GREATEST OF OUR CRIME WRITERS’ Sunday Times
‘A homage to the Golden Age of mystery – it is pure delight’ New York Times
‘Witty, wry, clever, a fabulous detective story and perfect summer reading’ Kate Mosse
‘Funny, intriguing, thrilling and thought-provoking: a marvellous mystery’ Adam Hamdy
‘A golden-age whodunnit on steroids’ Kirkus Reviews
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Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and the writer Anthony Horowitz have been invited to a literary festival on the island of Alderney to talk about their new book . . .
Very soon they discover that dark forces are at work.
Alderney is in turmoil over a planned power line that will cut through it, desecrating a war cemetery and turning neighbour against neighbour.
And the visiting authors seem to be harbouring any number of unpleasant secrets.
When the festival’s wealthy sponsor is found brutally murdered, Alderney goes into lockdown and Hawthorne knows he doesn’t have to look too far for suspects. There’s no escape. The killer is still on the island.
And there’s about to be a second death . . .
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Readers can’t get enough of Hawthorne and Horowitz …
***** ‘I loved this smartly written whodunit, but it’s the characters of Hawthorne and Horowitz that have completely won me over.’
***** ‘A Line to Kill was a very clever, suspenseful and compelling murder mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed ‘
***** ‘This is a worthy addition to this highly addictive series, and I can’t wait to begin the next installment.’
***** ‘Engaging, fun banter between Horowitz and Hawthorne, double deception, locked room mystery, multiple suspects that all have a motive, and someone with murder in their eyes.’