Pick your metropolis: New York. London. Hong Kong. Jakarta. Athens. New Delhi. They are, all of them, research in sharp contrasts, locations the place the uber-rich glide alongside gilded paths, cheek-by-jowl with the destitute, the determined and the lethal. For the individuals who occupy the area between these extremes, it’s potential to disregard or be oblivious to each worlds, save for an occasional glimpse on the night information or in a novel, as we wistfully aspire to money in like a Kardashian or batten our hatches in opposition to monetary break.
In her riveting second novel, Age of Vice, journalist Deepti Kapoor performs Virgil to our Dante, skillfully guiding us by means of up to date India’s political, social, financial and legal circles. The e-book opens within the fast aftermath of a horrific automobile crash by which a number of folks have been killed. The alleged perp, Ajay, is arrested, booked and subjected to a range of indignities in jail. Then it’s found that Ajay is a “Wadia man,” a time period of mysterious significance that affords him a lot better therapy than his fellow detainees.
Readers are then transported again to Ajay’s youth, the place, after a household tragedy, he’s despatched to work on a farm as a form of indentured servant. After a number of years, circumstances thrust him into the orbit of a wealthy playboy named Sunny Wadia, and the 2 strike up one thing akin to a friendship, albeit between unequals.
Sunny appears to have all of it, with the exception of self-discipline, a way of boundaries and the respect of his father, which he desperately craves. But he does have a plan, or relatively, a collection of them, which he tries to set into movement with the loyal Ajay at his aspect. In the midst of all this, Sunny meets and falls in love with a journalist named Neda Kapur, who has the facility to additional Sunny’s agenda or crush it.
The story bounces backwards and forwards between the three principal characters’ narratives and throughout 5 consequential years that may alter all of their futures irrevocably. Along the best way, Kapoor paints a mesmerizing image of violence and decadence, of battle and hope, of corruption and redemption. At 500-plus pages, chances are you’ll discover Age of Vice tough to select up, but it surely’s additionally not possible to place down.
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