Political thrillers are a dime a dozen in the West. But while India lags light years behind in this genre of fiction, author Seema Goswami's new book "Race Course Road" has certainly made a beginning.
The novel, which opens with the assassination of a sitting prime minister and revolves around the power struggle that follows, draws its strength from its well presented characters.
So what is the story about?
Birendra Pratap Singh, the prime minister, is poisoned by a Korean pen (don't read much into it) and now his elder son Karan has assumed his father's mantle. Karan's brother Arjun, who is not cut out for any responsible job courtesy his flamboyant lifestyle, supports him fully.
Hoping to ride high on a sympathy wave, their party calls for elections.
But, wait, their step-sister Asha Devi, whom both the brothers love to hate, is back from London. Will she ruin Karan's plan of becoming the next prime minister?
There is a sex scandal and a controversial arm deal, too. To top it, party loyalist and defence minister Madan Mohan Prajapati is seemingly up to no good. And amidst all this, the investigation on who killed Birendra Pratap is going on in full swing.
Goswami, who as a Delhi-based journalist and columnist has seen power struggles and political intrigue, stressed that the material for the book was all there in front of her.
"The world of Lutyens's Delhi was always fascinating to me, with all the wheeling and dealing, the backbiting, the political machinations, the human drama.
"The more I observed our political class and the media that covered it, the more I felt that I had all the ingredients for a good novel lying right there before me," Goswami told PTI.
Many of the characters, indeed, would remind readers of someone or the other -- such as the angry television anchor, the fiery chief minister of West Bengal and a woman Dalit Morcha leader.
But Goswami stressed the characters of "Race Course Road" existed only in her imagination.
"There is no character quite like Asha Devi with her charm, her strength and her chutzpah in Indian politics today, though I kind of wish there was. Nor is there anyone like Karan Pratap Singh, though, to be fair, there are plenty of Madan Mohan Prajapatis," Goswami, who took one year to write the book, added.
Notably, the author without meandering from the story line -- provides the reader with some important tidbits too such as the fact that Rajiv Gandhi was the first PM to move into RCR or that the catalyst behind the formation of the Special Protection Group (SPG) an armed force to protect prime ministers and their families was the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.
"I started off with a fair idea of how the Race Course Road complex works because I had visited it off and on over the years both in a professional and personal capacity.
"But before writing the book, I spoke to a few people who had worked and lived there to get further insights on how security is organised, how the household staff functions, how the office complex is administered etc," she said.
Happy with the response her first novel is receiving, Goswami has already started putting thoughts together for a sequel to the book and right now is busy spending her days plotting and planning Asha Devi's next move. Political sagas, after all, never end.
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