Rocking reviews and interviews by ace bloggers, featuring The Madras Mangler by Usha Narayanan. Here is popular blogger Rubina Ramesh’s take on the book:

The story itself starts with a nail-biting incident. College ragging at its brutal worst! How can young minds be so cruel? This is one question that has always troubled me. So, you can very well understand when it started with this incident, I was caught up in this book totally. Kudos to Usha Narayanan for writing such an action-packed novel. She is no shrinking violet when it comes using words to create a college ragging scene. I felt angry and anxious at the same time. But then enter our hero and heroine. And I breathed in relief.

Kat and Vir. Lively pair and adventure certainly follows them whereever they go. When Kat protested against the college ragging, she too was dragged into it. But the timely intervention of Vir not only saved her but all the other students too. Soon Kat and her friends Minx, Lolita, Moti and Deepika find themselves in huge problems. The college nasties were making their lives miserable with cyber bullying and eve teasing and also politically backed A-holes were were making their lives a hell. [Sorry for that, but this is one thing that annoys me, especially in a country which prides itself on its democracy). To top it all they fall under the radar of a serial killer. After that, I do not envy the girls one bit, for their lives became a roller coaster ride of lust, betrayal, greed and untimely death.

The story is gripping. It had its nail-biting moments and though I guessed who the killer was after the first clue was given, but it has nothing to do with Usha’s way of writing a mystery. I am just too good :P. Though I am itching to say something about the killer, it will be taken as a spoiler, won’t it? Let’s just say you will love him when you meet him and hate him when he leaves you … dead :O

I have to mention something about the writing style of the author. She has created a wonderful college scene. The student lives with all its ups and downs, the ragging, the weed, the hidden drug sellers and the chaiwalas (tea sellers) all combine to create the ambiance of a college life. Moreover, her words etch the scenes beautifully. The gory details of the murder, The Hatchet office has been beautifully described as has been the fetishness of the serial killer. She is a gripping story teller no doubt.

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