A Necessary Evil

By: Abir Mukherjee

Narrated by: Simon Bubb

The fabulously wealthy kingdom of Sambalpore: home to tigers, elephants, diamond mines and the beautiful Palace of the Sun. When the heir to the throne of Sambalpore is assassinated in Calcutta in the presence of Captain Sam Wyndham and his colleague 'Surrender-Not' Banerjee, Wyndham works to uncover the reasons behind Prince Punit's death, despite the opposition of his commanding officers. Travelling to Sambalpore, he discovers a kingdom riven with suppressed conflict. Prince Punit was a moderniser whose attitudes - and romantic relationship - may have upset the more religious elements of his country while his brother appears to be a feckless playboy. And when Annie Grant, the first woman to capture Wyndham's heart since the death of his wife, arrives in the kingdom, Wyndham knows this is going to be a case that is as challenging personally as it is professionally.

©2017 Abir Mukherjee (P)2017 Random House Audiobooks

Leaves you craving for more !

Abir Mukherjee and Simon Bubb continue the magic in their second novel of the series - this novel deals with a little bit more sophisticated plot with multiple characters coming in the fray of the classic whodunnit. The novel also portrays some of the beautiful cultural symbols of India which are still existent today (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratha_Yatra_(Puri)). Narration is again really enjoyable. Before you read this, make sure you read the first novel since some characters are continued from the first novel.

Fascinating Insight...

... into early 20th century India. Well read and the characters soon become omorganisering to one. The plot is pretty good, the protagonist was guessable but that didn't spoil my enjoyment.

Another great story

Abir spins a great yarn. It is exotic and fascinating all at once.
It is also captivating and well read. There are a few stylistic ticks that it would be churlish to harp on
For the author: Annie and Surrender Not are great characters that are under-utilised . I hope the next book gives Annie especially more space.
Other than that this is my favourite series at the moment I’m dying to read the next adventure.

India investigated

I love the way Abir Mukerjee manages to tell a great mystery story while giving the reader an insight into the problems India faced in the first half of the twentieth century while looking at both sides of the equation. As a young Indian man growing up in Scotland he has the knowledge of both and he is able to tell his story to give the reader sympathy for all the Indian communities who wanted freedom from British rule but also taking us inside the British mind of the time. I love Sam Wyndham and his sidekick Surrender-not (often in a low key way the brains of the partnership). I read the first book A Rising Man and have listened to the second. I am keen to get to the third book now. This one was beautifully read. The voice of Sam was exactly how I had imagined it.

Good series, good characters, one complaint

This is the second in the series, and I’ve listened to both. I enjoyed them enough to continue the series. The story is set in post-WW1 Raj. The main characters, Sam Wyndham and his assistance Banerjee are well-developed characters, and the plot is quite good, with some twists.. The writing is also quite good, with a dry wit and great metaphors. I know (from an interview I read) that one of the author's motives in writing these books is to present a view of the Raj not taught (according to him) in British schools. I believe him, that the injustices of the colonial rule are glossed over, at best, in English schools, though perhaps given his age, things have changed a bit since he was in school, but I found that this theme became a bit too heavy and preachy in the first volume, but less so in this one. I don’t know about other readers, but I’m certainly aware of the injustices of colonial rule and the white supremacy with which the system was infused. In the interview, he claims that books like A Passage to India and the Raj Quartet romanticize the period from the English point of view, and I loved those books and thought that the injustices in the system are pretty plain to any astute reader. But, I’m willing to take his preachiness if the stories are good, and as I wrote, I found that less dominant in this second book. I do have one quibble: Sam Wyndham is an interesting enough character, working on interesting enough cases, without needing his opium addiction (and over-indulgence in alcohol). I don’t know if he was inspired by other characters (like Sherlock Holmes) who had substance abuse problems (I’m also thinking of scenes in Jabbar’s Mycroft and Sherlock books, which are excellent, BTW), but I don’t find that it is a positive addition to these stories to read about the substance abuse. Yes, I get the idea that the author wants a flawed character - interesting characters always have flaws, to make them more human, but I think his craving for the “O” pervades the story too much (both books, so far), and I could do without it, and without the seedy scenes of opium dens (in this book he also goes to a fancy opium den). This is the 21st century, when substance abuse claims the lives of countless people and ruins the lives of countless others. Don’t glamorize or romanticize this. Yes, he had tragic experiences in his life, giving psychological reasons why he became addicted, but I would enjoy the books more without that. I’m hoping that Sam will eventually rehabilitate himself in a future episode (but somehow I suspect that won’t happen).