STRANGERS WITH KNOWN FACES by Gautam
Dutta : Book Review
STRANGERS WITH KNOWN FACES is a
mystery written by Gautam Dutta, which is debut book of the author. It tells a
story of five friends, namely, Rajat, Meenakshi, Sadaaf, Amol, and Shanaya, who
became friends with each other in a puzzle game at some event, after winning a
lucky draw.
The story begins when one of
the five, Shanaya gets murdered in her flat, and the other four are summoned by
the CBI, where they meet each other after a very long time. Then the story
moves back as the four reveal their past. One of the most interesting aspects
of this book is that it is set the year 2031, when there are certain high-tech weapons,
town is constructed with multiple levels of highways, and the neighbouring
country of Pakistan has become friends with India!
The actual protagonist is Rajat
who struggles in his personal life after marrying a politician, and finds
himself driven back to his college love. As the story slides ahead, evidences
point against Rajat, and he finds himself surrounded with difficulties in all
fronts. He and Meenakshi get fired from their respective jobs, and the only option
that remains with them is to find the murderer by themselves. There are conspiracies going on against Indian
democracy, which has its roots as far as Russia.
Strangers With Known Faces is
based on the very concept that we meet people in life and lose contacts with
them with time, which make them strangers with known faces to us. The story proves
to us we cannot know any person to the fullest, never mind how close the person
is to us. There is no doubt about the excellency of the plot of the novel,
however the flow could have been smoother. Sentences are well structured with
suitable choice of words, but a lack of proofreading is felt at places because
of grammatical errors.
Overall, the book is a fine
read, and is one of its type. You should grab it if you are looking for some contemporary
mystery written with a novel perspective.
Click here to get the book from
Amazon.
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