Ron Jogani, a jeweler from Mumbai, is in Belgium to buy a consignment of loose diamonds worth over ten million Euros. Hours later he's dead in his hotel room in Brussels--murdered. The perpetrators are extremely tech-savvy and have defeated all the CCTV cameras in the hotel ... but one concealed camera in the elevator has snapped one of the guys. When one of the stolen diamonds is sold in Mumbai, the Belgian Police reach out to their Indian counterparts.
The case is assigned to DCP Rita Ferreira. But when Rita and her team track down the man in the photograph provided by the Belgians, they realize there must have been some slip-up: the target does not even have a passport--he couldn't have traveled to Brussels. And then they discover that a private detective is already following their target ...
It has been one of the best read mysteries by Indian authors, the plot is very interesting and involves three diamond burglaries and a murder, the storyline is slow to pick up but keeps u hooked up, the characters of Rita ferriera and her ash Mattel are very colorful. The vocabulary of author is very rich. The End seemed to be very hurried, left many questions unaswered, it would have been better if there were more details about how did they do the burglaries, why they failed. Overall a very entertaining read, I am going to devour all the books written by vish dhamija very soon
Really.....it takes a celebrity investigator almost 90% of the book n a watch to realise what actually should've been the first n the most obvious 'conjecture' to pursue(as per common sense, no sherlocking needed at all). I've added one extra star for the effort involved in writing a 300+ page novel(although much of it was just superfluous volume), and the lexicon.....do we actually need such heavy wrangling in a murder mystery. ...just pondering. But definitely enlarged my vocab.
Crime thrillers are supposed to keep you on the edge. In this one, it's more like you are continuously prompting while reading on the chain of thought and investigation line that the protagonists should be taking. The "mystery" is pretty much not there. It definitely left me craving for more. After Bhendi Bazaar, this was extremely disappointing.
“Half of eight is four or three or a zero depending on who asks the question, isn't it? Mathematically, it has to be four, but if you are in some art class then you could cut the figure of eight side-ways or vertically and respectively make up a three or a sphere. It's the same with expanding possibilities.” In a nutshell this quote from Doosra summarises the plot of the book. When diamond merchant on Jogani is murdered in his hotel in Belgium and his consignment of diamonds robbed nothing connected the incident to Mumbai, When one of the diamonds appear in Mumbai, DC Ritas team gets the task of solving the murder. In typical Vish Dhamija style this is not the only diamond robbery that has happened. And since the bounds are no longer just national but global, the team's task is even more complex. The way Rita's team unravels layers is the essence of the book The way she looks at the 8 in this case and cuts it in different ways is the thrill in this book even though Rita has not much to work with in the case except for the suspect Honey Singh who seems to have been caught on CC TV. Honey Singh and his model girlfriend seem an unlikely suspect considering their daily life do not indicate anything untoward and he seems to be a simple guy waiting to earn big one day ecept for him being stalked by Handlebar the clown who has been assigned to do so by an unknown person.
In a final twist of events, the story takes a spin and the tightly knot plans begin to unravel for the heist specialists.
Quite a few loose ends and suspense build up was poor as compared to Bhendi Bazaar. Story though fast paced sometimes, feels like stretched at many instances. overall plot could have been structured better. Thrill suffered at the expense of very direct clues given upfront, easily decipherable by readers with a bit of common sense.
So called suspense thriller was predictable from 1st chapter itself and writer kept on dragging it with useless and silly twists and turns. Waste of money and time. An insult to our intelligence!!!
Did like the plot, I did. However, there are a few peeves of mine I'm hoping the author would see to in his next! - more efficient proof-reading, please - tighter editing - a not-so-hurried ending
A very average thriller second in the series of DCP Rita of Mumbai police. A diamond merchant is robbed and killed while on a trip to sell a large consignment in Belgium. The Belgian police seek the help of Mumbai police as they believe that the killer has fled to Mumbai and was an Indian. While the story and mystery were good their telling is subpar. A lot of repetition and lots of speculation rather than ground detective work. Vish dhamija is a good author and storyteller but falls short of his own standard here.
As usual another great read from Vish Dhamija, Doosra delivers what it promises. The characters are realistic enough and etched out with much care. The relationship between Rita and Ash are well developed, romantic, yet somewhat anti. The mystery is well developed with just enough bread-crumbs for the readers to grope something in the dark on their own as they try to solve it along with the DCP. As an omniscient narrator, the writer has revealed the culprit even before the end, and that one thing I didn't like much. I mean, the revelation, for me, would have been more welcome if it came from the detective work first. However, it's not the investigation, but the omniscience of the narrator that revealed the culprit and by extension, the accomplice too. Apart from that, overall a great read with a healthy dose of unique vocabulary.
I had very high expectations from the author after the first book Bhendi Bazaar. But it seems like this one was written to keep up the success and not forget the author so easily. Or perhaps it was a practice novel. The plot is lame and so is the manner in which the case is cracked. Zero element of suspense. The author has given away the ending sometime after the middle. So basically, I didn't turn pages. I just turned chapters only to just finish it. Quite disappointed and not a patch on Bhindi Bazaar. I'm hoping that better reading comes out of his next novel which I will download next, on my kindle.
Like the previous book in the series (which the author categorically states - that this one can be read as a standalone, and it can) Bhendi Bazaar this one is a 3.5-3.75 for me. Rita Ferreira is back and the case is as baffling as it can be. It has got enough to keep the readers on edge and it was refreshing to be re-acquainted with all the characters that one had encountered in the previous book. The twist in the end is nicely done and all in all this is a great thrilling ride. Once again the author refuses to insult the reader's intelligence and that in my opinion is the best way to approach writing a series like this. Keenly awaiting the next part in the series.
First novel in any series always sets the benchmark, and I have noticed that the steam runs out post that. Bhendi Bazaar was a top notch crime fiction and when I read it I thought maybe that’s it. Maybe Dhamija has reached his peak with it. But Doosra blew me off again. I didn’t expect the same pace, tension and intrigue. Like most of Dhamija’s previous works, he is quite open about providing leads to the reader to guess who the perpetrator could be, but he still has the arsenal to keep you going till the end. Hats off. When is the instalment of Rita Ferreira coming out Vish Dhamija?
This is one of my first crime thriller from an Indian author. It was an interesting plot. A diamond heist goes wrong and a murder results in Brussels. Investigation moves to Mumbai and how the crime is solved becomes the plot of the book. As I said a good plot. But down the line something is amiss. The book does not keep me glued as I expect normally in a crime story. The story loses steam at places and makes the wait for suspense tiresome. Some of the characters lack the depth. In all, a good read for the plot and the investigation methods. Not the best but good enough for the money.
While Bhendi Bazaar was awesome, this piece from Vish is kind of faded version of Rita Peirera. Most of the section is unnecessarily stretched,as if the author or the DCP is clueless what he/she is going to put down next.
The standard which Bhendi Bazar had set earlier, Doosra is a kind of disappointment w.r.t. to its predecessor. Some PJs cracked were absolutely irrelevant . Overall Doosra didn't meet my expectations.
I landed up selecting this book to read randomly. The synopsis seemed to read well considering it involved a murder mystery & its detection linked to stolen diamonds!
But that is where it ended. Apart from the intriguing plot which seems to have built some initial excitement, the book reads pretty flat. There are hardly any high points in the book. Infact you probably are aware about the expected end, but the author unnecessarily prolongs it.
A fabulous read. Rita Ferreira is a bit rusty in the beginning as she has just returned from a holiday in Goa, but she gets going soon enough. I liked the way the investigation unfolds; it's gripping and builds up well enough. I would have loved to see some of the not-so-important details edited though--the reason it took me longer to finish. That said, this is a well-crafted book.
Till 90% of the book not only is the chief protagonist clear about what is going on, the reader too is wondering about the manner in which the story meanders. Then suddenly everything gets resolved as the "doosra" is discovered. No where near the best of Vish Dhamija
Good Plot. Nice twists. You will lose track of the time because Vish Dhamija will keep you engrossed in the plot with a good share of twists. I liked the review habit, After every development, as the person reviews his/her day there might be something that we missed which can be of use.
Not very disappointing but it could ve been fine tuned a lot. No where near Bhendi Bazaar (his best according to me). It's a harmless one time read though.