The Bestseller She Wrote- Love. Betrayal. Redemption- A sure shot Bestseller..

  

Well I must admit, I am a fan of  Ravi Subramanian's writing . I must thank my close friend Mayur who introduced me to his books. From his first book, ' An Incredible Banker',  I have enjoyed his writing style which is usually a racy action packed thriller based on the world of Banking, , mainly Investment Banks.

After his  last novel, 'If  God was a Banker' , which was a thriller based on the Bit Coin industry filled with mind-blowing  twists & turns I was eagerly looking forward to this book. And I must consider myself lucky in a way because not only did I get to read this book 'The Bestseller She Wrote" along with getting a signed copy of the book by the author himself!

Can you imagine a John Grisham doing a Daniel Steel or Nicholas Sparks? Well, that's what we get to see in this book as Ravi Subramanian enters into the forte of romantic thriller through his latest book.

 The author moves out of his comfort zone & dwells deep into a tale of adultery & a middle age romantic emotional drams between an ambitious, sexy young woman who aspires to become a bestselling author & an established, famous bestselling author who helps her to become a bestselling author.

I could see the direct references he made to real life authors like Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi along with mentioning the famous editor Vaishali Mathur of Penguin Publishers intertwined in the plot of this book. Also, I got a sense that the lead protagonist  of this book kind of resembled Ravi Subramanian's real self( a trait Chetan Bhagat makes his living from through  books such as 'Five Point Someone' & '2 States')  which gave an interesting twist while reading this book.

What then is this novel all about?? Read on to find out..

A successful banker turned bestselling author Aditya Kapoor( An IIM Bengaluru alumni), has lots going right for him. He is the head of the Retail Banking division of National Bank , he has a steady & happy personal life- a doting, loving, considerate wife who also was  Adityas  classmate at IIM who gave up her thriving career in the corporate world to teach under-privileged children.

They have a son Aryan.  Adityas life both personally & professionally is a source for many of his peers & an a source of inspiration for some others.

This life of eternal bliss changes  quickly for Aditya when he meets Shreya Kaushik( who has recently graduated   from IIM Bengaluru) working as a management trainee at National Bank. She is drop dead gorgeous, attractive, ambitious and she has a dream of becoming a bestselling author &  will go to any level to make her dream come true.

Aditya Kapoor falls head over heels as soon as he sights Shreya ( like we see in  many Bollywood movies). And he uses his position & power  in the company to get her posted into  his team.  A middle age crisis hits Aditya as he forgoes his personal commitments & enters into a relationship with Shreya, the foundation of which starts when she reads his books & professes her awe of his writing to him.

Shreya takes advantage of this new development in her life by getting into a sexual relationship with Aditya by getting intimate with him by seducing him constantly. Her motive is simple- completely use Adityas connections & stature as a bestselling author to her benefit. But Aditya who is going through a mid-age crisis considers this to be a true relationship & starts feeling for  her despite his personal commitments.

What ensues serves up all the ingredients which makes for a  bestseller. It has love, betrayal, lust, greed, jealousy, hate, happiness, rejection, dejection & redemption mixed in such a way that the final dish makes for a fast paced romantic thriller which I found unputdownable.

 The story line of this book is definitely very unlike the other books Ravi has written thus far, which for me was its biggest plus, like  a breath of fresh air. Having read all his previous books which were mainly thrillers based on Banking, this book beautifully deviates from his usual style of  writing & he comes out tops with this effort.  It's not too often an author steps out of his comfort zone so I must give credit to Ravi for doing that with this novel.

This novel has three central pivotal characters i.e. Shreya, Aditya & Maya. As it's mentioned in the cover of the book this is set to be a motion picture soon. Well , the plot sure does make for a Bollywood movie what with this being a love triangle of sorts. The romance, emotions, drama & the revenge would sure make for a Bollywood blockbuster.

And by the way this novel reminded me of the Bollywood Movie 'Aitraaz'  which was also a love triangle. Of course  the plot is different in this novel but the general theme of the book is similar to the movie's . Also the extra marital affair which Aditya has with Shreya  reminded me of the Karan Johar directorial  'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' where Shah Rukh Khan's character frustrated with his marriage finds love in Rani Mukherjees character.

For all those readers who enjoy a healthy mix of romance, thrill, drama, suspense then this book is sure to keep you engrossed. Noted famous Indian authors like Chetan Bhagat & Durjoy Datta whose  books which fall in the same genre will definitely need to pull up their socks as Ravi Subramanian through this novel enters their playground & succeeds in keeping the reader engaged from start to finish.

For the readers who like to read some serious stuff, or who are generally not that much into fiction or don't read Indian Authors then this novel may not pique your interest. But nevertheless if you want to try out something which is light on the mind & yet enjoyable you could probably pick up this book from a book store near you.

What happens to Shreya's dream? Will she become a bestselling author? What will happen to Adityas personal & professional life post his romantic involvement with Shreya? To find out about that & more grab a copy of this novel & I am sure you will have a pleasant , enjoyable reading experience!!

I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers.