The Disapperance of Sally Sequeira is a page turner. I haven’t ever been to Goa, and a quick Google search tells me that there are a lot of hamlets like Movin, around. The biggest takeaway for me then, is to find one of these hamlets and add it to my Goa Travelogue.

As soon as we switched off the light and lay in bed, I noticed a gentle murmur of the sea in the distance, as if it was unfazed by the mysterious incidents that had taken place in the village in the past few hours.

 On to the book now, honestly the novel is very atmospheric; a peaceful little community, hidden from the bustling tourists, a perfect place to come and relax. No one would even assume that there could be a mystery here, which is what makes the setting so different from other detective novels. The setting is peaceful and yet at the same time it is this location that perpetuates the crime, or gives ample space for the criminal to go through with it.

Maity is what I assume our Hercule Poirot, with a side kick though. The entire plot is build on the theory of Chekov’s gun, each element, details or little spacial marker later adds up to something or the other, and is not only there for convenience.

Having spent quite a bit of time with Maity, I had learnt a thing or two by watching him. One of them was the subtle art of letting the other person speak.

The novel starts with these two friends on a vacation. On their first night their housekeeper tells them of the weird incident: a local man gets a letter in his mail box asking him to get fifty lakhs if he wants to save his daughter. Only problem is that his daughter is safe and sound in their house, and rather it is the neighbour, Sequeira’s daughter, the shy, lonely Sally who has gone missing.

Sally is a bit of an enigma, not only for the reader but for the townsfolk as well. For starters no one can say what she looks like, or why she is the way she is. There is a general family tragedy rumour which floats around about the Sequeiras, but that rumour is about the only thing everyone can agree on with respect to the girl.

“I do not believe in God, Father, but I believe in faith. Because i have seen with my own eyes what a man’s faith can make him do.”

I did not see that twist coming, like I said every little detail adds up. It is a very well plotted book. I was truly amazed how talented Chattopadhyay is. The writing is perfect, first person, informative, and Prakash Ray’s perspective makes it even better. In Ray, Chattopadhyay has tried to recreate his reader, the one who keeps guessing what Maity is thinking, and also looks at everything from a fresh perspective, not a detective’s perspective.

Would highly recommend this novel for a good, short, fast paced thriller, set in familiar territory.