7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Spirit and Heart in a Murder Story, March 21, 2008
In this debut novel - a detective drama about child murder - the author's own love and respect for children, as well as his spiritual leanings, are the elements that save the story from being mere morbid entertainment. Child psychiatrist Preetham Grandhi has crafted a gripping, fast-forward tale that is a rewarding journey, although I found myself wishing for a slightly different path along the way (read on).
Two strengths of the book are worth mentioning right up front. First, the story is constructed in short chapters that, for the most part, alternate between two gradually converging storylines, "cross-cutting," in filmic terms. The result is an inescapable momentum that kept me turning pages. It was truly difficult to put down. Second, the medical-world details, the hospital and child-psych ward environments, were thoroughly convincing. Clearly, Grandhi knows of which he speaks. Less convincing for me were the police procedural details, but I don't intend to nitpick.
At work on a deeper level is a more important strength: the novel is not cynical, as one often expects of crime drama. The author's heart is in evidence throughout, from his dedication to "the devoted staff and precious children of House 5" all the way to the final chapter. And while that may occasionally result in a bit of unsophisticated prose or an air of naiveté in characters where it perhaps shouldn't be, in my estimation those are preferable to the heartlessness so often paraded as "truth." A lack of cynicism is, unfortunately, not often seen as a positive attribute in commercial literature (read on).
I'm not a fan of the crime fiction genre, so A Circle of Souls is not the type of novel I usually read. Its title and cover are intriguing in a gentle way, perhaps appealing mostly to women (my guess), and giving an impression of the sort of literary confessional or family drama that would be a likely choice of mine. However, the back cover copy gives a very different message. It uses the shock-talk of crime TV, seeming to aim its appeal at fans of Law and Order SVU. In particular, I take objection to the final sentence: "In this stunning psychological thriller, innocence gives way to evil, and trust lies forgotten in a web of deceit, fear, and murder." This statement is simply not true. It is bogus marketing-speak that misidentifies the target audience and misleads the reader. If this actually described the book, I would not be writing this review, because I would never have finished the novel.
A more accurate summary might be: "In this riveting psycho-spiritual thriller, the dawning consciousness of an invisible dimension is the tool that unravels a web of deceit, fear, and murder, helping innocence to triumph over evil." Significantly more important to this book's power than the gruesome murders and the cop-drama plotline (both clichés by now) are these elements: a little girl's recurring dream in which she communes with the spirit of a dead child, and a doctor's acceptance of his own soul's reincarnation (a bold stroke by the author, oddly omitted from all the marketing blurbs).
For me (and I admit that many readers may not share my angle on the book), A Circle of Souls is foremost a story about the spiritual awakening of a man of science. I wanted a deeper look into the hero Dr. Gram's surprising and life-changing discovery that he, a middle-class American trained for mainstream medical practice, can actually believe in his own soul's multiple lives, and in the ancient esoteric teachings of jyotish (Indian astrology). This realization should be both freeing and frightening, and deserves more exploration beyond its direct connection to catching a killer. Grandhi thankfully gives us a final short chapter that does indicate Dr. Gram's new level of understanding.
A Circle of Souls is a good first novel whose greatest strengths lie in those places where it steps outside its genre. In his future writing, I hope Dr. Grandhi trusts his instincts toward spirit and heart. I look forward to what comes next.
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