the deliberate sinner

As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. That’s what happened to me with this book, “The deliberate sinner” by Bhaavna Arora. The book’s front cover featured an image of a lady undressing, holding a wedding ring removed from her hand. The back cover write-up was captivating too; it talked of a free-spirited girl marrying an eligible bachelor until their strong personalities are at odds.  

The book’s premise is good, and the author has done a good job for the first book. But I wish I could stop with that.

The book is clinically written, surgical cleanliness. Sadly that’s a perfect recipe for failure in life & this book.

It appears Bhaavna made a list of everything that needs to be in a best-selling fiction work and used it in the book. Whether it’s a female character travelling alone abroad, a wealthy wedding, a hot bedroom scene, a loving grandfather on his deathbed, high society parents caring more for their social status than their daughter, adultery, a kidnap sequence, Mumbai social scene, Delhi high circle and fashion industry, it’s all there in the book. Unfortunately, most of these feel forced into the story; not having them would have helped us to enjoy what could have been a great story.

The book appears to be a manifestation of the author’s eagerness to say everything she has to say in one book. I feel confused in most of the scenes about why something happens or is talked about. Rihana’s helper/driver character, why is he present in the story?. A dog for Rihana is force-fitted into the story so that Rihana, on its death, can have an emotional romantic encounter with her best friend Raj. Why should Rihana go to Mumbai, live with his paternal uncle, and why should her Uncle be a widower?. The kidnapping near Delhi starts off well and gets you captivated, but it drags a bit too much, which makes you guess what’s really happening.

Till the last chapters, the author stays away from portraying anything bad/sinister with the husband (Veer) or his parents. They are not shown as bad people. Veer comes across as a normal guy working hard to succeed in his business. In life, there is no clear black or white in people, and that makes their character interesting. But suddenly, at the end, an affair is introduced to push Veer’s character into the dark side, and then all the build-up charm in that storyline is lost.

Why does Rihana always fall for physical attraction, whether it is Veer doing 100 laps in the swimming pool or when she decides to have an affair, why does it have to be a man in uniform?. There are many questions like this in my head. If I think any more about this, my wife is going to kick me out of bed for sure.

Less is beautiful. If Bhaavna learns that trick she can become a great storyteller.