by Nilanjana Roy
SYNOPSIS
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO KILL A CHILD…
The Indian village of Teetarpur is a quiet, unremarkable place, until one of its children is found dead, hanging from the branch of a Jamun tree.
In the largely Hindu community, suspicion quickly falls on an itinerant Muslim man, Mansoor.
It’s up to local policeman Sub-Inspector Ombir Singh to uncover the truth.
With only one assistant officer, and a single working revolver between them, can he bring justice to a grieving father and an angry village―or will the people of Teetarpur demand vengeance instead?
REVIEW
Black River is technically a story about a murder but as you are reading you begin to realise that, as shocking as this is, it's actually a book about so much more than this one death. As policeman Sub-Inspector Ombir Singh investigates the murder of eight-year-old Munia we begin to build a picture of the small village of Teetarpur in India, including a powerful explanation of the devastating effect that the murder has on the community, the fallout that can happen when there are clashes of race and religion, and also a very compelling warning against vigilante behaviour.
The writing in Black River is just exquisite. I have never been to India so I was relying on the detailed descriptions of the village to place me right at the centre of the action. Everything was illustrated in its entirety - from the searing heat to the acrid smells of the abattoir, the composition of the soil and the texture of the tree bark - it was incredible.
The murder takes place right at the beginning of the story. It's very vivid, unsettling and the scenes that follow are incredibly raw. What's really interesting about the format though, is that we know what happened, who the murderer is and the reason for the murder taking place. The story then switches perspective to follow the police investigation into the young girl's death. The villagers are uncompromising in telling the police who they think is responsible, not willing to consider any other possibilities despite there being no evidence to support their claims. As a result, the police have no choice but to convince the locals to take a step back as they work the case from the beginning. Unfortunately what this does is highlight their inexperience and the fact that they are simply not equipped to deal with a murder or any case of this scale.
Black River is a riveting, unique and powerful story that uses a murder to talk about much wider issues dividing the population. The only other crime novel I've read set in India is A Will To Kill by RV Raman but this is a much lighter 'Golden-Age' type of crime story. The setting and tone of this book are really dark and interesting and I would highly recommend Black River for fans of small-town noir thrillers and murder mysteries including Tall Bones, Long Bright River and We Are All The Same In The Dark.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nilanjana Roy is a Delhi-based journalist, literary critic, editor and author. She has written and reviewed for numerous publications including the Guardian, New York Times and Huffington Post, and has a weekly column in the Financial Times, and her novel The Wildings was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. Black River is Nilanjana's debut thriller. It grew out of her years of reporting on gender from New Delhi and the surrounding states for the New York Times, and from exploring the capital and the Yamuna river on long walks.
Thanks to Pushkin Press - @PushkinPress and Nilanjana Roy @nilanjanaroy for the opportunity to read and review.
Publisher: Pushkin Press Genre: Police Procedural / Literary Fiction
ISBN: 978-1782279433
Pages: 368pp
Comments