You Never Know | what is unknown?

What makes a good thriller? Is it an impeccable storyline, an adventurous reading experience or is it the blatant unfurling of not-so-pleasant facts?

When I picked this book published by Penguin India, I was immediately drawn to the title. “You never know”--- what is it that I do not know? Do I not know the murderer (if there is one in the book) or do I not know the climax? Or is it that the whole story is so mystified with blurry concepts that I can’t grasp it at all?

Turns out there are a lot of mysteries lurking in the story. I turned the last page of it and I was heavy with scepticism about human affairs---love, lust and greed. The characters seemed so real, aren’t they the ones which we see all around us? They are the ones whom we purposefully choose to ignore, so as to keep safe our self-constructed wall of perception of human values.

 The book opens up quite abruptly, and we find the protagonist Dhruv groping about a crime scene, to retrieve the phone of the person who had succumbed to his suicide attempt. The story then takes quick flashback, as it familiarises us with the life of Dhruv and Anuradha, the lead characters. We see the two stealthily getting involved in a serious intimate relationship, despite Dhruv having his wife and kids back at home. Sid, the person who had committed suicide, was Anuradha’s engaged fiancé. This extra-marital affair persists, and soon Dhruv finds himself as a part of a huge conspiracy, that had initiated from Sid and Anuradha’s past commitments. This involvement with Anuradha provides Dhruv with extreme pleasure and solace, but he’s also in a dilemma as it starts to invade his familial life, threatening to harm his stature as a responsible husband and a father. But Sid’s suicide is somewhat hazy with unproved evidences and incomplete alibis, and Dhruv wants to explore further. His discoveries completely shake the foundation of trust he had built around himself….is he at risk?

The book kind of had a very simple plot, which is rare among thrillers. The chapters switched between perspectives of Sid, Dhruv and Anuradha and this multiple accounts of the same event from different viewpoints escalated the story quite fantastically. The storytelling part was very natural and always kept the reader’s attention. But given the seriousness of the issues that the book draws its inspiration from, a little more depth should have been there to the overall character development. The characters were instinct-driven and unpredictable, and I liked their vulnerability that the author was desperately stressing upon. Nevertheless, the overall course of the story could have been much more gripping. The climax was unprecedented….yet, I got no feeling of accomplishment when I finished the book. I presume I’ll have to preserve that feeling for other great books out there.

📢Sequel coming soon: Only the good die young. 

➦ Want to know more? Buy the book here!

Disclaimer: This review is in lieu of a review copy.

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