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A review by verosnotebook
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee
5.0
4.5*
Wow! Mukherjee keeps upping his game and this third title is excellent!
We rejoin Captain Wyndham at a moment when his opium addiction has become something he can’t just push to the side anymore. Barely keeping the threads of his life together, he is furthermore thrusted into a murder investigation that has a special connection to him, having seen a body with the same mutilations in an opium den. This is of course a fact he can’t share since it might cost him his job. Questions naturally abound. Are these ritualistic killings, or something much darker? And if that wasn’t enough, Major Dawson and Section H are putting their oars in!
As with the previous instalments, Sam’s voice is fascinating and compelling, but also known. We’ve followed our flawed hero now for two books and are involved in what happens to him and to Sergeant 'Surrender-not’ Banerjee. This case feels a lot more personal too, perhaps due to the situation Sam finds himself in. Similarly, this aspect is mirrored by the events rocking Calcutta politically and socially, ground to a standstill by the many non-violent protests, rendering the city a veritable powder keg waiting to explode...
The author succeeds in combining flawlessly the murder mystery with the historical events, evoking the India of 1921 in all its splendour and horror. Somehow you can feel and taste it all! I for one am totally invested in these characters and the world they inhabit, and cannot wait for the next book!
Wow! Mukherjee keeps upping his game and this third title is excellent!
We rejoin Captain Wyndham at a moment when his opium addiction has become something he can’t just push to the side anymore. Barely keeping the threads of his life together, he is furthermore thrusted into a murder investigation that has a special connection to him, having seen a body with the same mutilations in an opium den. This is of course a fact he can’t share since it might cost him his job. Questions naturally abound. Are these ritualistic killings, or something much darker? And if that wasn’t enough, Major Dawson and Section H are putting their oars in!
As with the previous instalments, Sam’s voice is fascinating and compelling, but also known. We’ve followed our flawed hero now for two books and are involved in what happens to him and to Sergeant 'Surrender-not’ Banerjee. This case feels a lot more personal too, perhaps due to the situation Sam finds himself in. Similarly, this aspect is mirrored by the events rocking Calcutta politically and socially, ground to a standstill by the many non-violent protests, rendering the city a veritable powder keg waiting to explode...
The author succeeds in combining flawlessly the murder mystery with the historical events, evoking the India of 1921 in all its splendour and horror. Somehow you can feel and taste it all! I for one am totally invested in these characters and the world they inhabit, and cannot wait for the next book!