#BookReview : Pretty Vile Girl by Rickie Khosla

Title: Pretty Vile Girl

Genre: Fiction – Thriller

Author: Rickie Khosla

Jazmeen is Bollywood’s current favourite! She’s beautiful, talented and knows her way around. She is in a relationship with one of the most powerful politicians of the country. Apart from her work in movies, what makes Jazmeen famous are her candid interviews which make the whole nation wonder what she’s up to. No one knows her secret but Jazmeen has her mind set on revenge and no one can escape it.

But was Jazmeen always like this?

Deepika Ahluwalia and her brother are orphaned after their parents die by drowning. They are sent to an orphanage. But being brought up in a well to do family, it isn’t easy for them to adjust with the ways of the orphanage. The various incidents that happen in the orphanage make her realize the true ways of the world. She understands that she can get nowhere if she follows the path of truth. From the orphanage, she finds her way to Mumbai. Mumbai makes a Jazmeen out of Deepika.In Mumbai, she makes her plans and makes the right connections and manages to find her way into Bollywood. There’s no stopping her for she can do anything to get things done the way she wants them to. The book revolves around her story and has every bit of drama that you can expect from a story that is connected to Bollywood.

I’ve always been skeptical about reading thrillers from Indian authors because the thrill factor always seems to be overpowered by the drama that’s involved. But Pretty Vile Girl is different. There is drama, there is emotion but the story moves at such a pace, that you keep wondering whats happening next. There are lot of twists and turns in the book. At first all the facts that are stated seem to be true and perfectly fit in until there comes a bigger twist that makes those facts mere statements.

The author doesn’t divulge too many details about each of the characters, but the details are just enough to have an understanding about the characters. There are lot of things that you can pick up on if you are someone who pays attention to detail. The author brings out how at times circumstances force people to do things that they would have never imagined doing otherwise. The levels to which people can stoop to get things done, the manipulation- both physical and emotional, the lack of morals is well brought out in the book. It explores the dark side of things.

There are a lot of characters in the book and the author does manage to bring out the importance of each to the story. But one thing that I found difficult was to catch up with all the characters. I found it a little confusing. There were few characters who were introduced in the beginning of the book, but the actual role came in only a lot later. One thing that the readers should keep in mind is that this book has a lot of violence in it. It isn’t for someone who would not like to read something that is dark.

That said, if you are someone who loves thrillers, then this book won’t disappoint you. Yes, there is some bollywood masala involved but the book’s main character is a Bollywood star! The suspense makes it worth it.

My rating : 4/5

I received a copy of this book from Bloomsbury in exchange of an honest review.