The title Useful Death is sure to raise a few eyebrows. How could death be useful?
A young actress Priya commits suicide and the son of a top actor Anil is being accused of leading her into suicide. Her laptop and phone go missing, adding to the mystery of the whole scenario. Partha the co-founder of a PR agency is hired to do damage control for Anil. Once Partha sets out to find the truth, the situations get entangled and Partha learns that it is not what is seen peripherally. Priya’s death is no longer a young actress in love with a young actor cliche. The more Partha gets involved, the more spiraled, his path to truth gets. With a mix of suspense, action, and drama, the author has managed to pull off an engaging cliffhanger.
They must negotiate a tangled and vicious world to answer one question: a young woman is dead—to whom is her death useful?
The style of narration and overall plot reminds me of Jackie Collins’s style of craft. Though with an action-packed twist. The narration is the highlight of the book. Towards the second half, the plot gets too long to care but an author with an exemplary style of narration has made the job seem smooth and easygoing. The characters are complementary to the plotline. Except for Partha and the person who comes to light towards the climax, none of the characters are given much space to develop but still, the author has managed to make it look complete.
There are a lot of subplots that eventually gel seamlessly with the main plot. But too much of anything would be tiring. Too much suspense makes it lag for the readers. Nonetheless, on the whole, the book is a complete package that could keep the readers hooked to the book and wanting to know what is going to happen all the time.
