At times, I get across books that don’t come from big publishing houses or bear the names of popular or bestselling authors. However, there is something about the title, the cover and the very appeal of the book at first instance that attract me. I hope the same must have happened to many of us. Do you remember? The most recent experience was Prasad Bag’s debut novel – Maya, the Blindfolded: Her Mistake? She Trusted Him. The title was prosaic, detailed, revealing and also striking. It literally invited the attention of those who are into reading crime thrillers and mystery fiction. It enticed me too.

The novel offers a very decent story. It is a murder mystery, mainly, that comes mixed with other elements from genres like horror, crime, realism, and psychological thriller. And it still maintains the pace; that’s a surprise coming from a debutant author. You should agree as you read the novel. The length is a little more than what I could have expected at the beginning when I started reading the novel. It seems a little overstretched at moments. The language, narrative, storyline, the planned twists and turns, the reveal and the conclusion are fittingly presented, mostly. You may have a few concerns here and there. However, overall, the novel does offer the readers many occasions of entertainment, excitement and enjoyment. A thriller out and out with a movie-like conclusion.

The central figure in this novel is Maya, a woman in her prime who work for Mr Kapoor’s software company. While she is good at work, she has a rift with one colleague Mrs Pinto. At home, she gets into horror stuff, drawn by one aunt Suzy, her neighbour. And then Maya starts seeing ghosts. Interesting, isn’t it? In the mix of the events, Maya’s colleague Mrs Pinto is murdered one night in the office. The blame comes on Maya because her presence in the office and other circumstances point at her. Further into the novel, Maya loses her memory of everything in the past and finds herself in bigger trouble as she has to defend herself from the murder accusation and she cannot remember anything at all!

Maya’s friends play important roles in the development of the plot. Her boyfriend Michael and her colleague Sarah in particular. They all come together to solve the murder mystery and find something that can help Maya get her name off the ‘accused file’. Will she be able to do it? Or, for a larger twist, is the real culprit?

The novel has many things to entertain the readers. At times, though, the limitation of the plot might come heavily and readers might ask for some space. For one time read, Prasad Bag’s novel offers plenty to hold on to. Regular readers of crime fiction also cannot get the real culprit as we often do while reading novels. You have to wait till the end… not only for the reveal but also for the grand reveal that adds the final twist to the horror episodes that Maya goes through throughout the novel.

You can get this novel from Amazon India in Kindle format. Click the link below to get a copy now.

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Review by Puja for Ashvamegh