Released: 14th November 2019
Genre: Non-fiction, Historical, Crime
Number of Pages: 411
For several years now, Abir Mukherjee’s definitive book series has created many a fascinating crime story in India and the fourth entry, Death in the East, continues its sublime track record.
Four books in, there’s no doubt that change was needed considering the predicament Sam Wyndham found himself throughout the previous book. How? With two parallel tales set across past and present. The first takes place in 1905 London where a younger constable Wyndham finds himself investigating the murder of a woman he was close to at the time. When the case turns sour, he finds himself unable to obtain the justice for those responsible. The other finds the captain in 1922, seeking a cure for his opium addiction, only to stumble across another murder in turn; it involves the same unsavoury individual who eluded him seventeen years earlier. Right from the offset, the mystery of the intertwined events sucks you in; we feel the same frustration Sam felt previously. Things feel incredibly personal this time around, with Sargent Bannerjee put to the side through most of the chapters.
The way the two plotlines are meshed together makes for a great pace that effortlessly swaps back and forth throughout the pages. Similarities are drawn out as Wyndham finds old memories rushing back; it’s a smooth way of both telling the story and also revealing more about the man we’ve been following across hundreds of paragraphs. The author wisely saves the big reveal until the very last minute, compelling the reader to continue on.
Being set in Assam in rural India, Death in the East is very distant from its predecessors, but it uses this new setting incredibly well to push the best aspects of its two narratives forward. It strips away the bustle and business of Calcutta in favour of quiet, peaceful temples. The first half of the novel is one of recovery and as we see from the protagonist’s perspective, this is no easy task. It’s a lot more contained than before, with a small handful of characters and far less direct action. Yet it’s just as intriguing as any other narrative in the series; the circumstances of the crime are much more illusive here, prompting a more difficult investigation.
Recommended?
YES: Like every other entry from Mukherjee before it, Death in the East is another excellent novel from start to finish. By delivering two stories for the price of one, the fourth entry in the series does a fantastic job of switching things up while delivering another engrossing investigation to sink your teeth into. With almost half a dozen brilliant books to its name, there’s no reason for any reader not to get into the Wyndham series right away.
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