Six Suspects  (English, Paperback, Vikas Swarup)

Six Suspects is a light hearted detective story revolving around the murder of the playboy son of a corrupt politician.

Summary Of The Book

Vivek 'Vicky' Rai is the spoilt playboy son of a corrupt politician. He is throwing a party to celebrate his acquittal following a trial for the murder of a bartender. It is a publicly known fact that he did murder Ruby Gill, the bartender at a swanky restaurant, because she refused to  serve him a drink.

During the course of the party, Vivek is shot dead, and the incident makes for sensational headline news. The police have arrested six suspects who were present at the party, six people who are as different from each other as possible, yet all seem to have had a motive to see Vicky dead.
There is a gullible, naive American from Texas, who fell in love with a Bollywood starlet just on seeing her photograph, believing her to be a mail order bride. He is in India to claim his prize. Then, there is an aspiring Bollywood actress, a corrupt bureaucrat, a petty thief, a tribal from the Andaman islands, and the father of the victim himself. Slowly, the author reveals why each of them could have murdered Vicky, each having their own motive. Each of these Six Suspects also inexplicably have a loaded gun in their possession.

The starlet seems to have a guilty secret and the mobile phone thief has big ambitions. The politician father seems to have wanted his son dead for some reason. The tribesman from Andaman is on a quest to recover some sacred stone stolen from his people.

Then, there is the sleazy bureaucrat Mohan Kumar. He was flying high until his retirement, indulging his weaknesses, which are many. And then one day, he took part in a seance and decided that he is Mahatma Gandhi and wants justice for the murdered bartender.

Amidst this crazy setup, the true motives for the murder and the identity of the criminal is revealed. But, not before the novel goes into entertaining sublots which involve the suspects. The starlet Shabnam has a double and the American becomes a tempting target for terrorists because of a confusion over his name, which he shares with one of the co-founders of Google.

Six Suspects is a funny and entertaining whodunit.

About Vikas Swarup

Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and an author.

Other books by Vikas Swarup are Q&A and A Great Event.

He has written novels and short stories.

Vikas Swarup was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Most members of his family were in the legal profession. He graduated from Allahabad University, studying history, psychology, and philosophy. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986. He has served in Japan, the United States, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. His first novel, Q&A formed the basis of the award winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.