A Rising Man

As a debut novel this is a very assured work. A fascinating period (1919 in India) with a interesting protagonist and side characters I found myself getting through this very quickly. Will definitely read the other ones.

3.5 stars.

I felt like we weren't given enough to actually solve the mystery, so that always drags a rating down for me.

The main character was interesting enough, but a fairly unreliable narrator. The other characters weren't really fully developed.

Meant for ex-Calcutta dwellers, whodunnit lovers. Overdose of nostalgia with a splash of history. Interesting take weaving fiction and history! But the twists of the whodunnit part is pretty messy and abrupt.

I enjoyed this so much. It's very gritty without being bleak, and the main character is likeable and flawed. The focus is on the murder mystery, as well as on the main character trying to understand the political situation, but the writing style is straightforward and everything's easy to follow. There's a lot of thoughtful exploration of colonialism and racism that fits very well as part of the main character's perspective.

I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Malk Williams, was new to me; I thought he was excellent, with distinct voices for all the characters. And in case anyone else was wondering, since a few well-known authors of lgbtq+ books reviewed this here: there's no queer content at all in this book. The violence is at a pretty standard level for a murder mystery (not extreme), but be aware that there is on-page drug abuse.

Nothing radical here, but very nicely written and a fresh voice. I really enjoyed the read and will be seeking out the next in the series.