A Definite Page-Turner (Book Review)

Book: Tree Bears Witness

Author: Sharath Komarraju

Publication: Westland Books

Wise is the one who doesn’t get influenced by anything…even by the truth

Tree Bears Witness (TBW), the name says it all. This Birbal mystery by Sharath Komarraju is an engaging suspense book. The building of the plot in interesting it keeps; as a reader you are compelled to get your grey cells to work.

Usually while reading a suspense book, we tend to get involved, we tend to get into this invisible race, to solve the mystery before we reach the conclusion. When you are unable to do that, accurately, you know that you have invested your time in a good book. The surprise element!!

TBW is a murder mystery and Birbal has been given the task find the murderer, who could be anyone from the top nobels in the court. And not to forget in two days. There are multiple suspects and everyone’s motives are equally convincing; how does Birbal lays his hands on the collars of real murderer is something to read about. Birbal also has to protect the innocent and that makes his investigation intense and honest.

The characterization is crystal clear, you can image the characters in your head. The tone of the story is not very aggressive, the pace throughout remains stable. Inspite of that, TBW is a page turner.

We all have an established image of Birbal – perhaps the most intelligent man. The author has depicted a young Birbal and his confusions, very aptly, and that’s what I really liked about the book. Yes, even Birbal can make errors in judgement, he is a human after all. This book is like the journey of Birbal in the making of the wise self he was.

Developing a mystery of this caliber is good, unveiling the mystery by getting into Birbal’s mind is equally commendable; that’s a big point scored Mr. Komarraju.

My takeaway: I am gonna read more of Komarraju’s books :P. It’s a simple complicated mystery folks …no takeaways here :D

My rating: 4 out of 5

I received a review copy of the book from Westland in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

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