Book #55: Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Durga, a teenage girl, is found in a house with her entire family who have been murdered. Despite evidence that she has been raped, she is arrested for the murders, but Detective Simran Singh is not so sure.
This book gripped me from the start, although it felt difficult at times. All the book's chapters followed the same format, starting with several paragraphs in italics, narrated by Durga. After this, the main body of the chapters were narrated by Simran, and these were followed by her e-mail correspondence with one of the other characters.
This book felt like a critique of Indian society and family values, with its themes of boys being valued more than girls, with references to mothers being expected to bear a male heir for their family, and women being forced into abortions if they were carrying baby girls.
The subject of mental health was also very present in this book, with the plot involving the disappearance of Durga's sister, believed to be a witch, who turned out to be in an asylum.
Overall, this book proved to be quite harrowing at times, but it was also relatively short, so I was able to read it quite fast. It is apparently the first in a series involving the character of Simran Singh, and I might consider reading further titles in the series.
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