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A Page-Turning Crime Thriller (Book Review)

Book: A Useful Death
Author: Sriram Chellapilla
Publication: Westland Books

A Useful Death – sounds like an intriguing title, isn’t it?  The plot is indeed as captivating as the title appears to be.  Authored by Sriram Chellapilla, A Useful Death, published by Westland Books, is a murder mystery set in Hyderabad. A young girl commits suicide and there are several people from an influential family who would have driven her into it.

The protagonist, Partha is up to find the truth, but when he and his team digs deeper, they realise there’s a lot more than just what appears on the surface. The journey to deciphering the truth is interesting.  







The story is extremely well narrated and characters well-defined. Even the complex scenes and events are recounted in simplistic manner. The book is full of twists and turns and especially when you least expect it. The author has done some good research before bringing the book to the readers.  The author has used several tools rather elements such PR (public relations), Media, Film fraternity, politics, campus politics, technology, among others and neither did I find any gap in the story-telling nor tedious to read.   

Inspite of being a crime thriller, the narration is not aggressive, neither very passive as well.
It’s an edge read! The way the story is weaved, it pulled me into it and really got me desperate to reach the conclusion.
There are hints in the book, that we might get to read sequel or prequel from Sriram Chellapilla.

My ratings: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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