One Arranged Murder | Chetan Bhagat | Book Review

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(No Spoiler)

"Love seemed elusive to us, but we had something else. We had friendship, which in many ways is even more beautiful than love."

- Chetan Bhagat, One Arranged Murder


(Picture Credit- chetanbhagat.com)

Are you looking for an engaging book review of Chetan Bhagat's new book One Arranged Murder. Don't worry! You are at the right place.


One Arranged Marriage Murder is a mystery thriller from India’s highest-selling author Chetan Bhagat. This is Chetan's ninth novel and twelfth book overall. His last release was The Girl in Room 105, which was published in 2018 and One Arranged Murder is a sequel of that previous one. This is a story about love and murder. Actually, it is a story about one arranged marriage that eventually becomes one arranged murder.


One Arranged Murder begins where Bhagat's previous novel, The Girl in Room 105, ends. Keshav Rajpurohit and Sourabh Maheshwari are best friends, colleagues, flat mates, and business partners at 'Z Detectives' which they started after solving the Zara Lone murder case. Yes, they are the same guys whom we see in the book, The Girl in Room 105. Both of them work at Cyber Safe, a cyber security company, and besides their regular job they also run 'Z Detective'. They live in a small apartment in Malviya Nagar locality in South Delhi. But Keshav and Saurabh are not talking-to each other, because Keshav has a habit of fat-shaming Saurabh’s fiance, Prerna.


Prerna is on the heavier side, and Keshav always finds some reason to take a jab at her weight, which Sourabh doesn't like at all. She is an internet entrepreneur, runs a curated food delivery called 'Eato'. Sourabh and Prerna are a cheesy and romantic couple. They will be getting married soon and it is an arranged marriage. There is probably more love between them than any arranged marriage couple.


Keshav talks about the bad condition of 'Z Detective', they don’t get any exciting case. Most of their inquiries are from aunties in the area, suspecting their maids of stealing their gold necklace or their husbands of having an external affair. Keshav is fed up with all these and really wants a serious case to get engaged, and the opportunity knocks his door within a few days.


On Karva Chauth, Prerna decides to fast for Saurabh. She doesn’t eat and drink all day, and in the evening, gets all decked up, waiting for Saurabh to come and help break her fast. Saurabh is supposed to enter from the back gate and meet her on the terrace of her three-storey house. After reaching the terrace, Sourabh started singing the song - 'Mehndi lagake rakhna, doli sajake rakhna' from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, the Hindi movie which had a classic rooftop Karva Chauth scene. But what he sees there shocks the life out of him. Welcome to one arranged murder!


Chetan Bhagat crafted the story in a simple but entertaining way. The book is filled with full of suspense. The writing style is quite witty, with a generous dose of light-hearted humor. The language is so simple and flowy like his other books. By writing One Arranged Murder and The Girl in Room 105, Bhagat has entered into the genre of mystery-thriller books.


We know about Chetan's obsession with numbers in his book titles, no exception in this book as well,  but it didn't really go well with the story, actually there are two murders in the book. Those who read Chetan's previous novel won't find it much different. There are many resemblances in both the narratives, and we can see Keshav has turned into a more confident and skilled detective in this book.


The story is narrated mainly by the protagonist Keshav. But at times, some characters like Sourabh and Anjali tell their own story in some parts. They tell their tales from their point of view and perspectives. The characters are very common and relatable. Even though most of us do not experience what happens to them, but still they are relatable.


One Arranged Murder is a mixture of romance, murder, action, comedy, family drama, friendships, and adventure. It has a big Indian joint Punjabi family that looks picture perfect from the outside, but on the inside, it is filled with secrets and scheming members. People have corrupt intentions, personal vendettas, dirty secrets and generations-old grudges within the family.


The shocking plot twist in the middle of the novel makes you more curious and the final climax will leave you shocked. No one gets a clue about the murderer till the end, which is very gripping. The twist is really unexpected and the mystery about the murderer is very engrossing. Looking forward to more Keshav-Sourabh mystery in the future. I would suggest you to read The Girl in Room 105, before embarking on the journey of reading this one, to have a clear idea.


If you are a Chetan Bhagat fan and enjoyed his previous books, then go for it. But what I found is, the book is written in a filmy style, maybe because most of Chetan's books eventually turn into a box office blockbuster! But overall it's an entertaining book, and easy to read in the same way most other Chetan Bhagat books are. Do give it a read!


Thanks for keeping me company, and happy reading.

👉Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of One Arranged Murder using the link below. 👇

👉Read the book review of Chetan's another Keshav-Sourabh mystery - The Girl in Room 105

Sept 28, 2020

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 20, 2020 at 8:13 PM

    Nicely explained. Thank you for the review.

    ReplyDelete

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