Customer Reviews

The Burning Ghats (George Sansi Mystery)

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Believe me...if you love mystery/thrillers, you'll love this book. Paul Mann has done it again, adding more suspence and adventure to the George Sansi trilogy. Can't wait for the next one to come out. Even if you've never read the previous books, you'll still enjoy this one. Hope you like it as much as I did!

This is the third of Paul Mann's George Sansi Mysteries. As a frequent visitor to India, I find these books about the underside of modern Indian society absolutely fascinating. Mann leads the reader into the crevices of Indian life whether the drug scene, Bollywood, or in this one the corporate world and reveals aspects of the culture from the noble to the sinful. Characters from central to tertiary are finely wrought and memorable. I would recommend that the books be read in the sequence of their publication since the main characters grow and deepen in a very satisfying way that adds considerably to the stories being told. I recommend all three books without reservation (Ganja Coast and Season of the Monsoon). For me they are everything a mystery, police procedural, and adventure should be!

It was the first Paul Mann I read and I don't think I'm going to read another. The concept is novel (no pun intended), but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. For one, the parallels to real life are so thinly disguised, one wonders if this should be called a novel at all. For another -- and this may seem minor to many -- the author doesn't even seem to know the difference between names and surnames, female and male names, Hindu and Muslim names. It can be really irritating for an Indian reader. Besides, there are plenty of loose ends -- how does Rafee manage to get his revenge anyway? While apparently focusing on the 'modern' India, Mann falls back on the stereotype popular in the west: the land of the Kama Sutra, of incredible poverty, of irredeemable corruption. On the other hand, the author's style is racy -- as long as you aren't asking too many questions. It's the perfect book to buy before a long railway journey -- and leave behind in the train.

Paul Mann has apparently found a niche writing mysteries set in India. Alas, the idea appears to be better than the books. The Burning Ghats opens with a lethal phosphorus spill that pours down a sacred river and kills hundreds of pilgrims. It's a striking image and one that leads the reader to expect a good mystery. Alas, this book is inconsistent and sometimes downright bad.

While Mann sometimes provides carefully woven descriptions of various Indian settings, this book often seems overwritten. One scene of a press conference is particularly tedious, with the crowd compared to waves and raindrops. Also, several characters appear midway and receive a lot of ink before disappearing from the pages well before the end of the book. One character in particular, an American businessman, seems only to exist so that a racy sexual encounter can be described. The Indian characters do not fair much better, with graft and deceit being common themes. Another character, the son of a ruthless tycoon, is said to be follower of a radical cleric; yet nothing more is ever mentioned of his extreme religious views. Instead, he winds up being one of the only generous characters in the novel.

So is the real India a land of excess, corruption, and misery? As a westerner, I can't say with certainty, but I believe India is not so simple. I think mystery fans can do a lot better than this book. It is hard to recommend it, although I have read worse.