Secret societies seem to be the latest fashion amongst thriller writers. Now that Dan Brown has done his bit with the Illuminati and the Freemasons, and the Templars have had their day with Umberto Eco and Raymond Khoury, it is only natural that an Indian author should write about secret societies in the colonial period. After all, it is a well-known fact that Chinese secret societies were involved in fighting against colonialism and imperialism, and several revolutionary societies, such as the Ghadar and the followers of Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad played stellar roles in the 20th century freedom movement.
Sarkar’s thriller is based on an interesting premise — what if there was a nameless secret society, based in Mumbai and Kolkata, which had dedicated itself to eradicating the East India Company’s government? And what if this secret society, called Benaami, sparked off the 1857 Mutiny, which was suppressed so brutally by the British?
As if this were not enough, Sarkar brings his story up to date with a software professional, Arjun Chatterjee, who has flashbacks to his previous life as a leader of this society. Arjun gets in touch with Sheila Guha, a history professor in Jadavpur University, to unravel the truth underlying his nightmares. Sheila has, quite by chance, discovered the society’s manifesto, in what might have been its secret headquarters in Kolkata. But even as Arjun and Sheila are busy trying to find out more about this society and his connection with it, they are pursued by the henchmen of a megalomaniac millionaire, Ratikant Gupta, who also has a connection with the society and who plans to use a very powerful weapon, which an ancestor of his stumbled upon, to put a government of his choice in power at the centre. Gupta, himself, is being pursued by the Mumbai Police, in connection with the mysterious death of one of his employees.
As the plot unravels, you wonder who will prevail — will Arjun and Sheila survive to lay the ghosts of his past life to rest? Will Gupta’s machinations succeed? Will the Mumbai Police, led by Inspector Kabir Ahmed, succeed in getting their man in time?
This book is an enjoyable read and should keep you up all night as you watch Sarkar’s characters outwit and outsmart each other till the last page. It was a delight to see how the author kept the story going — I’ve read several Western masters of the genre, but have seldom seen an Indian author attempt this feat successfully.

Kanishka Gupta is the author of History of Hate

Many authors attempt to be didactic or try to reveal all by means of a flashback. Even when he describes actions that take place in the 19th century, we get the feeling that it is not a flashback but a description of a here and now seen from that 19th century character’s point of view.

Kanishka Gupta is the author of History of Hate