Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi



Publisher: Cedar Fort
Publishing Date: June 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1599552354
Pages: 352
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary: In Newbury, Connecticut, ten year old Janet Troy is murdered. Leia Bines, an FBI agent, is called in to help the local detectives to solve the case. In the same town, Dr. Peter Gram, a child psychiatrist, admits Naya into the hospital after a near fatal incident. Naya is also having some disturbing nightmares that involves Janet. Leia and Peter are forced to work together. Will they find the murderer before he claims his next victim?

Review: A Circle of Souls is Dr. Preetham Grandi's debut novel, and it's such a priviledge to read it. The book is a real page turner that has kept me at the edge of my seat. If I didn't have any commitments that afternoon, I think I would have finished the book in one day. The pacing is fast as if the author isn't likely to waste time. The book takes the reader for a thrilling ride.

The book also explores the subject of the paranormal. Naya is a gifted child who is able to talk to the dead. Through her drawings she is able to express the dreams she has about Janet. Her drawings also become the only clues to what really happened to Janet. Having very little leads, Leia has no choice but to go with Naya's drawings.

The character I liked best aside from Naya, who I thought was interesting, was Peter. He was a workaholic doctor who genuinely cared for the well-being of his young patients. His ability to be culturally sensitive of Naya, who's from India, made me like him even more.

I think that the only issue I had about this book was that how quickly I suspected who the murderer was...and even though the author tried to lead me on to different direction, I still wasn't surprised who the killer was.

Still, I thought it was a very good debut novel. Great read and awesome plot.

Recommendation: Wonderful book! If you like psychological, mystery thrillers and some mysticism, then this book is for you.
Additional note: I want to thank Dr. Preetham Grandhi for sending me the advanced reader copy so that I had the chance to enjoy this fascinating story. I look forward for more of his work.

6 comments:

  1. Good review! I just finished this today and will be posting my review tomorrow. I agree about figuring out who the person was ahead of time. But it didn't really take away too much from the story to figure that out, I didn't think.

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  2. Thanks, Jenny. I look forward to see your review as well. I do hope Dr. Grandhi will write more novels. I really liked his debut book.

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  3. I've heard good things about this one, and I'm glad you enjoyed it, too. I just received this one the other day, and I can't wait to read it.

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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  4. I got this book too but haven't had a chance to start it yet! I need to push it up on my TBR pile! Great review.

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  5. It's a wonderful story. I'm sure you will enjoy it, Anna.

    @ Kristi, those TBR pile seems to be getting longer for me each day. ;) If I just had one week to devote myself to reading and nothing else, I would be in heaven.

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  6. Great Review, I can't wait to start it

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