You Never Know by Akash Verma
Not what I thought
You Never Know by Akash Verma is not a romantic novel with some high end emotional outburst as I was thinking. It turned out to be a thriller in the outlines of extra marital affair.
Story Line
The author Akash Verma has based his thriller on the theme of Pati, Patni and Woh. There is an extra marital affair angel in the story which ultimately diverts the story into a thriller.
So there is this happily married man Dhruv who fells for his junior colleague Anuradha. They both think there is a connection between them (it was nothing more than lust) which has drawn them together. This was their reason or rather author’s excuse to entangle both their life together to give birth to a thriller. Anuradha’s dark secrets gets Dhruv in some serious trouble.
My thoughts about the storyline
The story was walking on the road of emotional family drama. But suddenly it takes an unexpected turn and start running on a completely different road.
I must say that due to this twist the book become a little interesting to read which was otherwise nothing more than lust between Dhruv and Anuradha.
Characters
There are four main characters in the book Dhruv, his wife Shalini, Anuradha and her boyfriend Sid. All the four characters were ambitious and basking in success which was believable.
But in the name of love they were doing things which certainly doesn’t fit in my logic specially when there is no such ardent reason to do it.
So none of the character will impress you to leave any impact or will make you feel emotional at their plight. It is difficult to sympathize with the characters as you can’t relate to them.
Sid had gone bankrupt but he had enough money to drink alcohol all day and night.
Anuradha had just started working but seems to have loads of money to give to her boyfriend without even bothering to know what is happening to the money. She doesn’t even hesitate to meet a complete stranger in the hotel room all alone just for the sake of his boyfriend who is good for nothing.
Dhruv falls for Anuradha because he felt a connection with her but really it was nothing more than lust. It is lust which rise and fade with time. Love doesn’t. It might increase or decrease but definitely doesn’t wipe out.
Unimpressive Narrative Style
The story is written with the perspective of three characters Dhruv, Anuradha and Sid. All in the first person. The tone of the narrative doesn’t change even if the POV changes.
Sid has been shown dead right from the beginning. His story should be narrated by Anuradha or in third person but instead author wrote his part in first person as well.
Author could have experimented with the narrative style to make an interesting read of this fairly predictable thriller.
The Verdict:
All in all You Never Know by Akash Verma is an average read. Could be picked up for time pass but there are many good books available with the similar theme.
‘I received a copy from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’