You Beneath Your Skin is Damyanti Biswas’s debut novel, and it’s a prime example of a murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns in a complex plot. Set in a smoggy New Delhi winter, the book brought to mind my travels through that part of the world—cities teeming with people, traffic jams, markets bustling with shoppers, slums where human beings live desperate lives, and monuments of incredible beauty.
The characters are well-developed, even the most minor having a character arc that changes them. The city of New Delhi is itself a character as Biswas reveals its sordid underbelly where the poor are manipulated by ambitious politicians seeking ever-increasing power. Misogyny, greed, caste prejudices, and corruption are endemic. Anjali is an Indian-American psychologist who ran from a dominating mother in the United States and settled in India where she is a single mother to Nikhil, her teenaged son who’s on the autism spectrum. Jatin is the married police chief with whom she’s carried on a ten-year affair. When a series of raped then murdered woman are found with their faces burnt off by acid, Jatin attempts to solve the crimes—and opens a can of worms with devastating aftereffects.
Biswas’s voice is lucid and taut, written in a no-nonsense manner. She neither minces words nor sensationalizes the most horrific moments in You Beneath Your Skin. The dialogue is realistic and engaging. It’s well worth reading this book because of the insights Biswas gives into Indian society.
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You Beneath Your Skin is available through Amazon.
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