The DaVinci Code, meets Indian Jones, meets India’s first female detective. 1950 Bombay. A missing manuscript. A missing scholar. RIDDLES. A dead prostitute. A CIPHER. A place where everyone SWEATS and everyone SMELLS.( When was air conditioning invented?) An old love interest. NAZI soldiers. Inspector Wadia as a role model for other women.
There is so much going on in this novel, it’s hard to believe that much of the Khan’s storyline was drawn from history. I never thought about how the world readjusted to a new reality after WWII ended. Where did all those escaped Nazis go? How did their lives continue to affect the lives of others following the end of the war? Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” is a fitting text…how do we answer for our sins? What is the ultimate punishment?
“…the Nazis…they were thugs. Schoolyard bullies whose only answer to every problem was to exterminate it. Tell me, what kind of world is it where men can think like that?” (263)
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