Sacred Games: A Novel by Vikram Chandra - Mystery Thriller Book for Adults | Perfect for Book Clubs & Leisure Reading

"Sacred Games" revolves around the suicide of Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India - a suicide that takes place in a newly-built fortified bunker in the center of Mumbai - and the investigation of how Gaitonde came to his end by Sartaj Singh, a once high-flying inspector on the police force who is beginning to realize he is on the back end of his career without much to show for it.This, however, is no simple whodunnit. Rather, we watch Singh pursue leads on the Gaitonde case at the behest of the national government, as well other cases in the city, and even the possibility of new love. Meanwhile, we learn Gaitonde's story in parallel, watching as he makes his first bold moves into criminal enterprise and grows to become one of the most successful leaders in the Indian underworld. Both men, and many of the people around them, are beautifully fleshed out, with all the nobility, bravery, cowardice, uncertainty, depth and inconsistency that embodies the human condition.Vikram Chandra's massive, multi-layered, mystery-romance-thriller-travelogue-historical novel is an immersion in India's culture and history and a chance to become deeply familiar with his well-drawn, fully realized characters. Tangents abound and the emphasis is not on swift, linear pacing, but on weaving together the threads of many lives and many years to create not only a compelling plot, but three dimensional context around that plot.Readers will need to be patient, as the book is littered with all manner of words and slang from the Subcontinent's many languages. Repetition and context, however, along with a semi-useful, selective glossary in the back of the book, will make meanings clear over the course of the book. This is not a page-turner to read by the pool, but it is a profoundly rewarding, literary experience for readers who enjoy originality, other cultures and characters they can come to know as well as real people.