To categorize Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra as a detective novel is so limiting it hardly does it justice, but in reality it is about a Sikh detective and his encounter with the most wanted gangster in all of India.  But it is is also a story about love and betrayal and what makes it so remarkable is that the characters and the story are played out against the rich diversity of India and its cultures and that context plays a significant role in this sweeping novel about crime and punishment.

From the opening paragraph where Inspector Sartaj Singh  and his sergeant Katekar are called to the scene of a domestic disturbance where Fluffy the wife’s dog has been killed in a spectacular fashion, the characters, the writing, the story and India herself engage you and never let go. Sartaj Singh is the only Sikh detective on the force in Mumbai.  Now that he is over forty and his marriage is over he is looking for something to make his life meaningful.  And then he gets a call-an anonymous call that Ganesh Gaitonde, a notorious gangster, is holed up in a white, square, cement bunker in another part of the city and wants to talk. Sartaj goes and tries to reason with Gaitonde to get him to come out but in the end the bunker is breached and all that is left in the rubble are two dead bodies.

Intermingled with the story of this larger than life gangster and how he came to be in the bunker and the reasons he killed himself, is the story of Sartaj and the loneliness he feels since his marriage broke up and how his constant encounters with the worst in people are beginning to weigh him down.  He is struggling to find a way to connect with something good, positive and real in his own life and as he begins to look into the causes of Gaitonde’s suicide, he begins to “emerge from his cave,” and engage with life again.

There are many rich characters in this book. We sympathize with Gaitonde as he tells of his betrayal, we are touched as Sartaj  as he begins to fall in love. and even minor characters like Sartaj’s partner Katekar and his wife, or Sartaj’s mother all add to this depth and believeability of this story.  Without a doubt one of the main characters in this book is India herself.  The descriptions of life in the city of Mumbai and the way people live and go to work and eat are all so vivid and real.  The author uses words and phrases from the various Indian dialects throughout the book adding authenticity to the dialogue and descriptions as if he has lived or been in these situations himself. (Link to interview )   But even though we are solidly in India, the story is accessible and connects us to those universal human feelings and motives that we all share: joy, passion, love, betrayal and hope.

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (Five Stars out of Five) 

Recommend this book to : Ken, Marian and Lauren (who went to India!)

Book Study Worthy: Perfect, especially if you eat Indian food while you talk about the book!

I read this book in hardback! (900 pages!)