Four crime novels that could do with a dose of steroids
Boldly kickstarting two new imprints, Westland has simultaneously launched four crime novels by three debutants Gautam S. Mengle and Gabriel Khan are mentored by veteran crime reporter S. Hussain Zaidi, and Jigs Ashar by pulp-master Ravi Subramanian. The outcome may turn out to be a market success since these paperbacks are eminently suitable for newcomers to the genre they are nicely cosy, asexual bordering on neutered, and largely non-violent, save for the sporadic creepy moment.
To the latter category belong the horrific hangovers as portrayed by Mengle in
Intersections, which features API Mhatre, a policeman driven to drink by inner demons. He wakes up “sprawled out on the floor somewhere between the bathroom and the living room, with no memory of how he had ended up there. The fact that he was facing away from the bathroom indicated that he had been on his way back after relieving himself, and the absence of any b