Deal of Death – Book Review

Cover Page – Deal of Death
Deal of Death – Book Review
Book: Deal of Death
Author: Sonia Chatterjee
Reviewed By: Manas Mukul
Publisher: Self – published
Price: Free (As of now)
Pages: 65 (pdf)
Language: English
My rating: 3/5
Watching ‘Vyomkesh Bakshi’ on Doordarshan is one of the favorite memories of my childhood. It was a prominent and popular Indian detective series in the early 90s. Since then I am huge fan of this genre. Nothing noteworthy popped up on the Indian TV scene after that.
Breathing books reintroduced me to genus once again. To review a detective thriller is simply bliss. If a writer can come up with exhilarating suspense stuff, nothing can be better than that as it always gives the writer an opportunity to convert the protagonist or the lead detective into a character associated with a series. I feel that if you can write and can cook up surprising roller coaster events then one must definitely try their hand on a detective novel. Most of the books that I have reviewed so far belong to the same category.
Continuing with the books from the Blogchatter Ebook carnival my third pick is a suspense thriller. It is actually one of the most downloaded novellas, ‘Deal of Death’ from Sonia Chatterjee.
Deal of Death is the story of Raya Ray, the leading lady, who dons many hats. The beginning of the book showcases how Raya Ray and her supporting husband tries to cope up with their stillborn child. The greatest loss for any woman…any mother. It’s a journey of how she overpowers her emotions and tries to get her life back by opting for a new place and profession.
Raya ray’s character is multi-layered but it is the thread of her unquenched motherhood that plays the underlined theme. The case she entrusts herself is also of a stillborn baby, where the mother of the child, Sharmila, is indubitably confirmed that the baby was alive at the time of birth and had suckled on her in her half conscious state. Hence the story is about whether Raya is successfully able to unveil the mystery around the missing child.
The major portion of the plot is based in and around ‘Munshiganj’, a forgotten city, which had a lot of prominence in the pre-independence era. It was once the capital of old Bengal during the early 1900s. The city helps in blending the cocktail of Bengali backdrop with Nawab connection. Sonia puts in few photographs in the book to bring that old bucolic lure and pragmatism to the content. The selection of such a city was important as the plot discusses supernatural and blind-faith.
The story has few characters along with Raya Ray but each and every one of them gets their space in the narrative. No character has been introduced unnecessarily. It is a fast read with only 65 pages and modest vocabulary.
No story is perfect and Deal of Death also has its share of negatives. The story doesn’t answer the question as to what happened to Sharmila’s Child. There are some sub-plots, which are unnecessary since they don’t add to the main plot and sometimes work as extra information. I also felt that more detailed work would have made the story more compelling but given the time constraint in which Sonia has come up with this is still appreciable. The book calls for basic editing, including grammar and formatting. A good re-editing of the work would definitely benefit the book.
Deal of Death, portraying an empowered woman with a gritty character, is a good debut effort by Sonia Chatterjee. Raya Ray certainly has a lot of scope for future novellas. I am going with three out of five for Deal of Death.
Manas ‘Sameer’ Mukul
You can Grab a FREE copy of the book HERE
The Joker has published his own ebook and you can give it a try for free here
Thank you for a very interesting and honest review of my debut detective thriller.
I have done a bit of editing and formatting work in the most recent version.
Would you believe that Munshiganj is a figment of my imagination and the pictures were taken at various places in Bengal while I started working on my A2Z theme – A dollop of Bengal?
The answer to Sharmila’s child will come back in one of the sequels. Like you correctly said, a detective thriller has immense scope for a series. I am trying to develop Raya Ray as a character on similar lines.
You are right about the rushed climax. This novel was conceived and written in just 6 days thus making it impossible to add any more details at the end. I am working on this aspect before coming up with a KDP version.
Really appreciate the effort and time you have invested in reading my book and coming up with such an in-depth analysis.
This seems like an interesting read. Full marks to the reviewer for captivating my interest, I am including this one in my TBR list.
Congrats to Sonia. I know how much dedication and patience a novel takes. Cheers to you! 🙂
Thank you so much Priyanka. Do watch out for Raya Ray.
Looks like an interesting read! I love thrillers and this seems to fit the bill, also the fact that it is written by a fellow blogger, makes it extra special
Thank you Neha
Sonia, being one of my favorite writers and after reading your interesting review, makes me grab this book now. Soon, I guess will start reading, thanks for the review.
Thanks for your kind words 🙂
Sounds interesting. Well reviewed.
I love a good thriller as much as the next person. I wish you had given a spoiler alert as you gave away the ending. But a good review otherwise.
I think you have done a thorough job of reviewing this book. I have read it too and agree that some parts need more of a back story and some parts could use less. But she has done an incredible job with the twists and turns of the story. With editing this has amazing potential.
Namratha from #firstgreenstep #MyFriendAlexa
It was a great debut. Wanted to be honest so that the next one is a sure blockbuster 🙂
Thanks for appreciating the review.
Wow this sounds like quite an interesting one! Mysteries especially those where the end is totally unpredictable are one of my favourites .#MyFriendalexa #Flavorsofworldread
Thank you for liking it.
This book is just the right niche for me.I am going to grab Deal of Death .Your review is well balanced.
Thank you Amrita for the appreciation. Keep visiting.
I downloaded this book during ebook carnival itself. Still have to pick it though. Guess I should soon, especially after your review. #LiveItYoungReads #MyFriendAlexa
Thank you Rashi.
Deal of Death of one of the first reads for me from the blogchatter ebook carnival. I loved the crispiness of the narrative by Sonia. And am eagerly looking forward to read the sequel in the series.
Thank you so much.
I see what you mean about a not so well wrapped story. But I noticed that the author responded to your post and justified every bit of it. That’s wonderful!
Thank you for visiting and commenting. She is a brave writer and I wish her all the very best. Just tried to be honest with the review.
This was really an interesting book. I have read reviewed it on my blog too. Waiting for the kdp release.