Author – Piyush Jha
Publisher – Westland
Genre – Fiction
Pages – 391
Price – Rs. 295
Sneak from the cover
This thrilling narrative
of a serial killer’s life and the unusual and challenging investigation to
catch him, uncovers a chilling trail of unspeakable torment and cruelty – the tale
of Raakshas.
The Cover
Raakshas himself
welcomes readers with his bloodshot eyes and his weapon of destruction. Look
into his eyes and you will definitely think twice about reading the book,
especially if you are beginning to read at night!
My View
Raakshas is a touching
story of an innocent boy who is forced by circumstances to become a psychopath
killer. One doesn’t get to know his real name, so I will call him R. Labelled a
killer at birth and blamed for his mother’s death merely marked the beginning
of his life’s atrocities. There was still a lot more to come. A harrowing time
with his father followed next. Brahmanand, who saw his son as a mere distraction
to his ongoing research, was the major culprit in spoiling his son’s life. After
all, it is the parents’ responsibility to provide an environment conducive to
the child’s holistic development. The first few pages brought tears into my
eyes. “How can a father be so cruel to his own son?” I kept wondering. But
then, haven’t we heard stories of scientists who lost it in pursuit of their
impossible inventions? The little boy’s perseverance however, impresses us throughout.
Gifted with an amazingly sharp brain, the boy had it all in him to become a
genius.
But, destiny had
different plan for him. After months of inhuman treatment by his father,
destiny gave R a chance to escape his father’s den and be united with the only
mother figure to him in the big, bad world – his maternal aunt Latika. Little did
he realise that the journey to his aunt’s place would instead take him to the
path of being a serial killer.
On his way to his aunt’s
place, little R got kidnapped by a baba, a serial killer himself. It was the years
of captivity, being baba’s assistant in his heinous crimes that transformed the
boy into a serial killer. Throughout the years of captivity, R just dreamt of
escaping Baba’s clutches and being reunited with his aunt. Sadly, by the time this
happened, his soul had already become a personification of evil.
What followed next was
a story that could shake the reader to the core. One after another, the tales
of his heinous crimes gave me goose bumps.
The story has a very
strong message - A serial killer is not born but is made.
Almost parallel runs
the story of a girl, as intelligent as R but much favored by her destiny. An
event in her adolescence which could have spoiled her life forever instead became
her biggest strength. The girl went on to become a super cop, which brings us
our second message – We are what we choose to become, not what circumstances
want us to be.
The book also
highlights the side effects of a practice rampant these days – of media
highlighting and exaggerating every little piece of information. Had the
media not come up with a silly idea of “ranking of serial killers”, many lives
could have been saved.
Grab the book, for Raakshas
isn’t a book about nabbing yet another serial killer on a killing spree. It
goes a step beyond and portrays all that goes around in the minds of serial
killers, their fears, triggers, emotions and motivations – the face of devil
inside. The parallel tracks of the lady cop and R give the story an interesting
“Yin and Yang” touch.
What I loved about the
book
Everything, for the story
has the power to leave an impact on its readers. Being my first crime thriller
I was quite hesitant but the book kept my hooked on until I didn’t finish the
last page. As I was glued to the book, the courier boy and a plumber who
visited my house were welcomed with my suspicious eyes. Need I say more?
What could have been better?
Many aspects of the
lady cop seemed too good to be true and exaggerated to give her a heroic
stature.
My rating
4/5
About the Author
Piyush Jha is an acclaimed film director, ad filmmaker
and author of bestselling crime fiction novels. His films Chalo America, King
Of Bollywood and Sikandar are noted for their unconventional subject matter.
Currently working on a crime based TV show, Piyush’s earlier novels are
Mumbaistan, Compass Box Killer and Anti Social Network.
This review is for Writers Melon
