Book review- The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi

I had heard many good things about this book and after reading The Emperor's Riddles and reading its reviews that it was inspired from The Krishna Key, I had to read it to see what book could inspire such awesomeness.

The book starts with a curious murder that immediately reminds me of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. The professor and his female sidekick have either become stereotypical features of a historical fiction novel or the authors of this genre find them to be convenient while formulating the plot.
The character of Saini is poured in the mould of Robert Langdon who is a professor, an academic and someone who knows more about symbols, mythology and history than necessary, thus ending up in the proverbial soup.

Priya and Radhika Singh are the two femme fatales of the story. Characters of both have good, complex back stories which is one of the good things about the novel. It is about the story but it is also about the people. Even the villains and side-characters have been given a build-up to their present state and that's what sets this novel apart from others.

The mystery factor lives up to expectation, the plot is tight and 400 pages do not seem much when you race through history with Saini. Language is simple and easy to understand and the size of the book makes it easy to carry around. The cover art seems a tad faded but when the book is good, who really cares, right?
There are snippets from Lord Krishna's life thrown in between and you kind of start thinking whether the main story is going to merge with mythology which is a good exercise. The fiction is definitely predictable at times and the Dan Brown flavour has been given an Indian tadka.

Westland has done a good job with the quality. The typographical errors are rare. Only one error that could I find was the names of Radhika and Priya being interchanged in the narrative.
The book will be liked by history buffs, mythology enthusiasts and people who have a knack for mainstream pulp fiction.
I give it 4 stars.
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