Review of novel...'The bestseller she wrote' by Ravi Subramanian

Romance is arguably the most popular genre to write a book in. Add a second potent angle, betrayal and/or revenge and you have a sureshot recipe for success.

The novel,' The bestseller she wrote',  taps the romance in a hip, contemporary setting between a married, successful banker who is also a popular author and his young, stunning and cunning protégé. Their relationship graph is developed on predictable lines. The protagonist Aditya is projected as a hotshot professional and a devoted family man who falls for the guiles of a young ambitious female Shreya without much ado. For an apparently smart man, Aditya appears dumb in his dealings with Shreya who always gets the last word. 

The author also fails to focus on any real conflict in Aditya's mind about going ahead in an adulterous relationship with a much younger woman despite happily married. He is too eager to form an extra-marital alliance with an overtly shrewd girl. Well, pretty is what pretty does. She betrays him without batting an eye. Feeling guilty and remorseful, Aditya begs for forgiveness from his wife who after a little dilly-dally takes him back like an 'Adarsh bhartiya nari'. Infact, stereotypical characters abound this novel which makes for a candyfloss timepass read but does little in uplifting it towards an engaging thriller. The twists and turns are conviniently contrived to push the story forward. 

 What if Shreya was a genuinely sweet girl really in love with Aditya? What would Aditya have done; who would he have chosen ultimately? Making the other woman appear scheming and manipulative is such an obviously easy way to chicken out of developing a complex emotional interplay between the 3 protagonists. Aditya's wife, Maya and best friend, Sanjay are mere caricatures with foreseeable actions and reactions. Even the backstabbing angle given to Sanjay seems forced as an afterthought. 

In the end, this novel maynot go down in the literary circles as the bestseller that Ravi Subramaniam wrote but definitely as a likeable, caramel-coated popcorn romance providing instant gratification. But does it leave a lingering taste? Read and decide.