PLOT:2/5 CHARACTERS:3/5 WRITING STYLE: 2/5 CLIMAX:2/5 ENTERTAINMENT:2/5
“For the media it was another news story, another spicy murder that would excite the audience as they cheer… It was all a circus, and after some time everyone would forget about it.”
– Anuj Tikku, Yes Sir I Killed My Mom
My Musings
I am in awe of the dedication and consistency of author Anuj Tikku. No matter what, he never lets anything affect his writing. And almost every single month manages to come up with a new title. The movie rights of one of his books, Yes Sir I Killed My Dad has already been acquired by a major production house and he is in talks about a few other of his titles.
Though I am not a huge fan of his writing, his perseverance never fails to inspire me. In a short span of a couple of years, he has managed to publish over 50+ titles. Going with the flow, the author recently published his latest Kindle novella, Yes Sir I Killed My Mom. Read on to know more about the book and my review of it.
The story as it goes
Mrs. Deeksha Kapoor is a high-heeled socialite who loves partying and entertaining. Her husband Dhruv is one of the best-known plastic surgeons in the country, specializing in celebrity makeovers, and often frequented by Bollywood celebrities. For Mr. Dhruv, work is worship, and more often than not, he can be found, working diligently in the closed confines of his office.
In their early fifties, the couple has two adorable kids – Tarun Kapoor and Tara Kapoor. Theirs is a happy family, but their happy world comes crashing down when one day, after a clash with his wife, Dhruv commits suicide and the next day, Deeksha’s body is found brutally murdered.
What happened to their happy world?
What did Dhruv and Deeksha fight about?
Who killed Deeksha Kapoor?
Who is the public referring to as the Mommy Killer?
What did I like?
I like the fact that the author takes inspiration from real-life events around us and weaves them into his fictional tale. There are references to the recent drug bust involving a Bollywood superstar’s son, and further, the recent event of a bomb-loaded vehicle found outside a billionaire’s house has also been incorporated into the story albeit with changed names and identities.
The characters
Though the story itself is short, the characters are quite dynamic and nuanced. Adequate attention has been given to describing their characteristics, quirks, physical appearances, backstories, and other relevant background information. Some of the characters like the Robot Cop of Mumbai: Suraj Kumar have been given quite an aura.
The writing
The story is pretty straightforward. Given that it’s a thriller, there is not much thrill or suspense to hang on to. I feel that the author tries to cramp in too many elements without doing any of them proper justice. There is infidelity, a Bollywood – cricket romance angle, a suicide, a homicide, horse racing, lots of psychological and spiritual concepts, and many other things.
What could have been better?
Right on the first page of the story, the entire mystery is revealed. For a book that is supposed to be a murder mystery, there is no thrill, no suspense, no mystery. I do not see the point of revealing everything, in the form of a summary, right on the first page. I mean what sense does it make when the climax is presented even before the story could even begin.
Editing that kills everything good
The book suffers from many issues, predominant amongst which is the editing. Numerous errors come in a wide array – grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, punctuations, and sentence construction. Further, there are instances where the names of different characters get mixed up. This shows the carelessness in writing.
Contradictory in itself?
Further, there are places where I found the text itself to be contradictory. Take the below two paragraphs for example –
– “Inside the house it’s as my mom who was the king, she ruled the house and she was the one who helped us, me and my sister with her homework.”
– “My mom, Oh! She well she never had any time for us, she was interested in her parties, she did dot on my sister through and would often take us kids shopping for our clothes and other things but she never helped us with our homework or our hobbies like most other mothers.”
Ignoring the editing issues, you can see that the two paragraphs contradict each other. These are descriptions of his mom that Tarun gives to the police.
This kind of writing, not just confuses the reader but gives little to no impetus to the reader to keep reading.
In the end
Yes Sir I Killed My Mom is a below-average read which narrates an unappealing mystery with no suspense, no mystery, and no thrill. It is a book that is full of editing errors and grammatical mistakes that makes the overall reading experience a very bad one.
Would like to read it? Buy your copy of Yes Sir I Killed My Mom using the link below.
