James W. Ziskin is the author of the award-winning Ellie Stone Mysteries Series, yet somehow I hadn’t read any of his work before getting an advance copy of Bombay Monsoon from NetGalley and Oceanview publishing. I love well-crafted Historical Fiction and Thrillers, and this book is all of that.
We are introduced to Danny Jacobs, an ambitious young journalist who recently arrived in Bombay, as he sets out to make his professional mark and adjust to life as an ex-pat in a country that still holds on to a “servant” under-class. Aided by the notes left by his predecessor, Danny contacts and interviews a man who claims to have set the bomb that killed a police officer in support of Marxist extremists. In an unguarded moment, Danny captures the bomber’s face on film – a piece of evidence the bomber and the people behind him cannot permit becoming public.
We share Danny’s discomfort as his egalitarian views get challenged by the complex social norms in Indian society. Each new acquaintance has a part in the mystery, from his penthouse neighbour Willy Smets with his exotic mistress Sushmita to Danny’s bigotted compatriot Harlan and even his servant Ramu. Not everyone is what they seem – and misplaced trust can be fatal.
The historical setting of the story is “The Emergency” declaration following the court-ordered nullification of Indira Gandhi’s 1975 election. The actions that the Indian government took affected human rights and civil liberties at the time, and indirectly impact this storyline. I found it worthwhile to take a break and read up on those major events since the book does assume some familiarity with them, yet thankfully doesn’t bog us down with the details. I expect that Ziskin will have a lot more to draw from that period in future books in this series.
I had a personal interest in the setting of the book because while I haven’t spent as much time in India as Ziskin has, I’ve spent considerable time between Mumbai and Pune and the locales were familiar to me. I feel that he has captured the geography exceptionally well, especially the (still!) harrowing road up and down the Ghats. A setting that was well-grounded in reality and characters with only regular human capabilities and weaknesses made the story very accessible and believable. On the other hand, some may find that too much time is spent on the descriptions of scenery and food.
I was slightly disappointed in the way the central mystery storyline ended – it felt like a movie adaptation where a sudden ending trope replaces chapters of revelation to fit time constraints. I’m left imagining that dozens or hundreds of pages were cut from an earlier draft that might have shown how the criminal network reacted to Danny’s escape and helped move the story to its conclusion more gradually.
Overall, Bombay Monsoon is extremely enjoyable. The historical setting is interesting and invites a bleak comparison to and warning for present-day politics. The main characters are accessible and feel real, and most importantly, the action is engaging. I’m looking forward to reading what Danny Jacobs does next!
mogsdad 