#Reunion by
Suvika is a murder mystery involving serial murder on the rampage, targeting
participants of a college reunion. Our protagonist Reyansh, the wolf, ultimate
fixer guy of Corporate World, is the prime suspect and linked somehow with
Murders. The story is about how Maya Bansal, SP, and Reyansh's love interest
tackles this even when people are getting killed one by one.
Although
you get the hint, about the identity of the killer few pages before the actual
reveal in the book, the confirmation and motive behind the murders will surely
shock many readers, especially in India.
Suspense
thrillers with romantic love interests are Suvika's specialty, I have read all
her books with my favorite being A Man
to die for. Although certain times accused of plagiarism, the way Suvika
Indianizes the story gives depth to her characters, shows them struggling with
their demons, and experiences are her USP as a writer. No over the top romance
or drama, just right amount of spark that keeps readers interested in leads,
without overshadowing actual plot. She sketches the characters which we can
always relate to even though we may not know such people in real life. Even the
professions she gave to her leads in this one is highly central to story. Maya
is a cop whose love interest is the prime suspect of serial murders. We can
feel her struggle trying to be objective about the investigation and on
realizing his innocence, fighting hard to find the real murderer. Reyansh is
the ultimate fixer of the corporate world who works in shadows and fixes things
for corporates. For normal people, his job may look bit shady and may increase
suspicions over him, but there is nothing shady or hidden about the persona of
this guy. He moves on from ex-girlfriend without a grudge, helps find a job to
a friend who is fired coz of him, is a loving protective brother who fails to
recognize signs of any abnormality in his sister's behavior. He is a fixer who
is unable to identify issues needed to be fixed in his personal life. He is
supportive of Maya's exhaustive work, worried and protective about her without
being all Macho about it, and most importantly is super confident about her
skills. The subtle gender reversal is highly appreciable here. Maya is a cop,
tough physically working with ease in a male-dominated world. Reyansh being a
professionally analytical guy is never seeing being the one who solves things
with punches but uses his brain in that. If there is a fight amongst friends he
will try to reason with them, if there is an unwanted obsession by a friend he
would shout at her and make her see sense if Maya takes risks and uses herself
as bait, he cooperates with her, staying at sidelines, confident with her team.
There is
also no drama about how they fell in love. When they propose they directly do
and accept it. As a reader, I also didn't felt a need for unrequired flirting
or romance in such an intense thriller. But still, you will feel the emotional
attachment between both leads.
The only
flaw I felt in the book was there was no closure in the epilogue. It is
indirectly hinted that maybe things will go good for them, but as a reader who
has felt about the emotional shock of protagonists, you will want more,
something greater than these not so direct smoothening of things. Whether Reyansh
has the strength to move on was also not clear. I wished there was more clarity
with which book was ended.
Memorable Quotes-
None in particular
My verdict-
If you are looking for not so intense but good murder mystery with Indian set up go for it…
Availability-