400 days by Chetan Bhagat

"400 days" by Chetan Bhagat - Find the missing girl!

This book is published by Westland in Oct 2021 and has 352 pages. This is Book 3 of 'Keshav Rajpurohit' series. 

As declared at the end of second book, Keshav wants to become police officer and solve cases. At 29 he has only two more attempts left to clear IPS, but prospects don't look bright. His parents wasn't him to settle (proper job and marriage). 

Alia, a stunningly beautiful lady from his colony comes to him with a case. A cold case, 9 months old, of a missing 12 years old daughter, Siya Arora, who was kidnapped from her grand parents home. All her family has given up but Alia just can't give up her child. 

How much remuneration do Keshav and Saurabh get? Is Siya alive? Can Keshav solve this cold case? How will he respond to Alia?

It's a big family with all kind of characters. A balanced patriarch, a matriarch with an issue with younger daughter in law and obsession with family name, elder brother in law who is worried about business, sister in law who is nice, two nephews and a younger daughter, who is witness to kidnapping. Add to it a family priest, a pedophile, a young tutor, opportunist inspector, media circus and the detectives. 

This story has numerous tussles. There is saas Vs bahu tamasha, there is male Vs female progeny preference, there is business Vs Siya tussle, there is love Vs maternal affection, the is logic Vs God man, there is exam Vs investigation conundrum, there is family Vs Police tussle. 

The story is good and interesting. There are two long flash backs necessary to set the background. The pace is on slower side but the interest is maintained. I wasn't able to guess the perpetrator. Credit to author. However Keshav finds the truth through his momentary brilliant deduction rather than a thorough process of investigation and analysis. 

Author has placed strategic clues, false leads and red herrings. A couple of red herrings are left open. Could have been closed. The book is long. I would have trimmed 50-60 pages. That might have improved the pace. Good book cover. It represents the story. 

In first book Keshav was personally invested in the case. In second book Saurabh was personally invested in the case. In this book too, one of them somehow manages to get personally invested in the case. 

Chetan, an author credited for bringing back the reading culture in India, has gravitated towards mysteries three books ago. Looks like he is now settled and wants to continue with the genre. Expect another book in this series in future. 

Why did I read this book? Author.

What did I like? Retained interest. Character of Alia.

What I didn't like? Red herrings are not closed. 

Recommend reading.