Perfect Murder by Shakuntala Devi | Book Reviews

When writing the title for this article we found it quite amazing and a little misguiding in some cases (if you don’t read it full). Late Shakuntala Devi, more known as a human computer, was an Indian author who wrote many books. Her writing arena spread from numbers to crime thrillers.

Written by Shakuntala Devi, the book, The Perfect Murder is a crime thriller.

You will find this vide interesting to know more about Shakuntala Devi.

It says the cover tells half the story of the book. The cover of this book is simple yet effective. Showing no sign of brutality or murder, the background of the cover page hints of blood spots though. BTW: We found some similarities in the cover page of this book with the same of Brutal (a book by Uday Satpathy).

Kamal / Kamalakar Sharma:

The protagonist (or the antagonist) who practise law. Considered as one of the most sought after barrister or Bangalore, he also had a chance to be a judge in the future. Since childhood he envisioned himself in being a judge, delivering some remarkable judgements and adding wisdom in the course. He found himself caught in a marriage which was like a bottleneck for him. He wanted to get divorce from his wife Seema by any cost.

Considering himself a clever fellow, he tried outsmart the law. He planned a murder, very perfectly. The entire book is written in the first person (as the story told by him to the reader).

Seema:

Seema is the victim whose murder was planned by her husband Kamalakar Sharma. There was a time when the couple was having great relations. She is wealthy and her husband want to get rid of her, and want her money. Though mentioned a lot, her character doesn’t actively deliver much in the book.

Pushpa:

The secretary of Kamalakar Sharma, who eventually become his point of interest too. Murder of Seema (or plan to the same) can be considered as a crime of passion where she was the point of inspiration for Kamal. She is attractive and having an affair with her boss Kamal. She made Kamal desperate to marry her by killing his wife Seema.

Sarita Shah:

A former client of Kamal Sarita is a wealthy woman. Actually Kamal helped her in getting divorce from her husband a long ago, and she fall for Kamal; and willing to do anything for Kamal. She also admired or rather loved Kamal but he never responded to her feelings, until he needs her. Yes, Kamal eventually includes her in the plan of murder by being seen with her in public, which lead to spread of rumours above both of them having an affair. She wears too much scent/perfume and her place is almost full of artificial smell, sometimes making Kamal desperate for fresh air!

Inspector Govidaraju:

A cop, who eventually investigates the strange case of missing Seema and her claim for divorce from Kamal. He is quite different than the typical police officer shown in Bollywood movies or Hindi TV Serials. He have a passion of doing his work with full potential, and when he is at it, he can go ahead and make things from even thin air.

Book Plot:

From the introduction to the principal characters, you got to know almost half of the story right? For a suspense thriller knowing absolutely entire story (precisely, the main suspense) kills the fun of reading, so we are not revealing more here. However we can mention that there are some other characters who plays comparatively small roles in the story and Manjari (best friend of Sarita) is one of them. It is she who raise the question about Seema to Govinda Raju and Kamal.

Here are some interesting pieces of writing from the book:

Time was something you could not plan in advance.

“Not till I’m sure I’m absolutely unsuspected.”
…
“Will you ever know that, Kamal?”

She was crowding me. I could hardly breathe even with the windows open, and the breeze pouring in.

This is the way with trouble. It can never hit you fast enough or hard enough.

Boss pays a lot of money for protection. He likes things smooth. He don’t like it when somebody makes trouble.

I lay writhing. Die? Me? I can tell you this. People die only when they do not want to die.

…
Each night. Every night. This is the price I pay for the Perfect Murder.

The book is not very lengthy, and is like a novella. Shakuntala Devi maintains the pace through out the book. The first few pages of the book are building the plot and there a few places in that, which are not very gripping. Initially you may think that you are reading another love affair book which may go ahead like a traditional Bollywood movie. If you keep yourself glued during this period, the remaining part is coming as better segment of the book. It is gripping throughout, especially after half of the book is completed till the end.

There is so much about planning of the murder, the perfect murder. So when it is executed and the clean-up actions are taken, you may feel disappointed and think that author could have been a lot better here. But after a few scenes are passed, the stuff becomes so grippy that you cannot put it down till you read the last page.

If you are an avid reader of crime thrillers, you may suspect the character of Pushpa or might be thinking that Kamal is blindly trusting her. (Well, we cannot tell wether you are right or wrong here), but the twists towards the end are worth exploring.

The downside is there are many scenes which are written for adult readers.

Murder mysteries are actually for adult audience, and if you don’t mind some adult material, you will enjoy the book. The last segment is most gripping, and we cannot tell more about it in order to keep the suspense alive. One sequence we found interestingly written (which can be mentioned) is, Kamal’s driving a car from Bangalore to Patna. You find is realistic, and even can feel that you are riding in the car.

Overall, more pros and only a few let downs. It is clearly seen that the author enjoyed writing the book.

Summary:

We can say the book is a perfect thriller. Being comparatively small in the size, it is gripping almost throughout. A delight for thriller lovers for sure.

Buy : Perfect Murder : from Amazon India
Buy : Perfect Murder : from Amazon.com

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