Magic Square
is a mystery novella by Salini Vineeth. Despite the book being short in length,
it is a terrific read and the author has made all aspects looked equally
distributed with an élan. The story is staged against the prominent places of
South India. As we get into the novel, we get introduced to Amuda, our main
character. The author has put in brilliant efforts to transform this ‘once
pessimistic character’ into the ‘driving force’ of the novel. While reading
this book, it is evident to feel that the mystery is solved by a common human
being, rather than by a great or larger-than-life character, the kind of
characters we see in Colin Dexter, Daniel Silva and Robert Galbraith books. As
a matter of fact, a great aspect.
By all angles
of semblance, Amuda is a simple girl pursuing PHD in Bangalore. She has opted
for PHD when she failed to grab a job after doing M.Tech. Nevertheless, she
knows that she is meant for something great in her life, though she remains in
dilemma as what to do or where to start. Probably, at this time, when she gets
bored by Prof. Murthy, she is looking for some kind of escapade or an
opportunity to do something uncharacteristic. She is a bit negative thinker
owing to her grooming and family history, but it never occurred to her that she
is meant for warts-and-all jobs. In a sense, her character is slightly dynamic
and unstable.
What we see
next, is another character Dheeraj, classmate of Amuda. They are friends and to
some extent have crush on each other… but not sure of the outcome. Dheeraj
hates Prof. Murthy, who keeps assigning him frustrating assignments one after
another. One day Dheeraj gets a mathematics assignment and he has no idea how
and where to start from. He is rather clueless. Next, Amuda takes him to a book
store where he stumbles upon an old book of discreet mathematics. That book
seems to be a relief for his problems. However, Amuda notices that there is a
poem scribbled at the back cover of the book. The poem is about the love for
Tamil language and it was by someone named ‘L V Sreenivasan’ written in
February of 1965. Amuda feels captivated by that poem and decides to uncode it.
But how? She wants to find out about that person L V Sreenivasan and his life
story. Could there be any riveting story waiting to be heard? Well, Dheeraj
discourages her to leave it and just before Christmas vacation he leaves for
vacation in North India. Amuda is now alone and she has to unravel this
mystery…more for herself than for someone else.
Without giving
away much, we express that the novella is a gripping one. The story is
fast-paced; one clue after another will make you stick to it until you get over
it. Surprisingly, there aren’t many ‘under suspect’ characters and still by the
way of impressive narration the author has managed to win our hearts. Well
edited and well written as a first-time writer, Salini has given immense hope
and inevitably made a promise to her growing reader base. Convincingly, it is a
fantastic read with five out of five stars.
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