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Middle Time

Priya Vasudevan
Niyogi Books (2011)
ISBN  9788189738709
Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for RebeccasReads (10/11)

Mysteries in English written by Indians are few and far between. Though Indians enjoy the courtroom antics of John Grisham or the techno wonders of Michael Crichton, we have a hard time accepting such works written by our fellow countrymen...or women. 

As an aficionado of legal thrillers, I have been on the lookout for legal thrillers written by my countrymen. I thus found out thrillers written by Parameswaran Nair, Dr. L. Prakash and those written by lawyer Aditya Sudarshan. While Parameswaran Nair regaled in Perry Mason pastiches; it was Grisham who inspired Dr. Prakash in his novels. However, a historical legal thriller like the ones popularized by Bruce Alexander or Steven Saylor written by Indian authors never caught my attention… till date. I have been enamored by the works of Lindsey Davis whose protagonist was Marcus Didius Falco, a real life Roman lawyer of the 1st century AD; and by that of  Steven Saylor whose protagonist is the famed Roman lawyer and orator Cicero. I was intrigued on reading about “Middle Time” and I simply had to read this book…simply because it was the first historical legal thriller from India. I had not much expectations from this book and I thought that it would be a simple pastiche of the Saylor- Lindsey Davis novels.

But I was proved wrong in all respects. The author has created a novel that stands on its own right by all respects. I would call it even remotely inspired by any of the historical mysteries out there. For one thing, instead of placing the entire novel in history itself- the author does something creative and takes the protagonist Lawyer Maya (and along with her the reader) back to the past. Maya is a part and parcel of history and that of the present. Past and present are interwoven in this finely written novel. Maya is enquiring into the mysterious death of her client Thulsi when she catches hold of a very old book. The said book transports Maya back into time to 16th Century AD India. It’s a period of religious bigotry, a time of turbulence, a time of fear…a fear of death. Here Maya meets Achale (who is sort of an alter-ego of Maya). Achale is investigating into the mysterious death of a woman named Thulasi. And the death of Thulasi seems to be connected with the death of Thulsi 500 years down the lane.  What follows is suspenseful narration at its pristine best, culminating in a finish that’s just exhilarating.

I sort of felt like I am reading the courtroom version of “Back To The Future” series. That feel good exhilarating feeling that one gets after seeing the said movie is felt throughout this book. Maya is a gusty heroine, and the blurb informs us that Maya will soon be back in the novel “Brahma's Time.” I sure would be reading the said novel; and I wonder if Maya’s adventure would take us to the future of India????

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