A Rising Man – Abir Mukherjee

3 Responses to A Rising Man – Abir Mukherjee

1. Mr Red says:

   January 24, 2021 at 6:49 pm

   Readable, often gripping detective novel set in late colonial India. Nicely written, with well-drawn characters, but rather spoiled for me by recurring cliché situations and descriptions – the flawed English detective who is a drug addict (now, where have we hear that before?), his Indian assistant who could have been written in to the story much more effectively, the corrupt administrators, and so on. Ultimately it didn’t fulfil its promise.

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2. Mr Black says:

   January 26, 2021 at 6:47 pm

   Most enjoyable. We have read numerous detective novels and this was definitely up in the top of that list. Many of our previous forays into this genre have encountered books such as March Violets where the author is trying too hard to get the details of the location wedged into the book. In this novel you just somehow feel part of the era and city. I would definitely want to read more from Mr Mukherjee.

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3. Mr Orange says:

   January 27, 2021 at 1:22 pm

   It started well with an interesting post-WWI India backdrop and an unusual cast of characters, then went rapidly downhill. The prevalent views of that time on class, race and gender were only used to distinguish the good guys from the bad in a way that was barely believable. You ended up with a 21st century hero (anti-racist, class warrior, feminist) rather than a more interesting, realistic protagonist. Sherlock Holmes is a more interesting precisely because he was a snob, drug addict, etc. Personally, I’d rather read John Buchan.

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