Book Review: Your Truth or Mine? by Trisha Saklecha

There has been a sort of a break in the momentum in my reading of thrillers where a DI (Detective Inspector) a PI (Police /Private Investigator) makes his/her first appearance. But like they say you can keep me away from my those firsts but you can't keep me away from thrillers, and so I am back with the review of the debut novel, a crime thriller, Your Truth or Mine? by Trisha Saklecha published by Pan Macmillan this year. I won this book in a giveaway contest held on twitter.

Without much ado lets dive into why or why not should you read this novel. Your Truth or Mine? is the story of an Indian couple Roy and Mia who live in London. The narrative goes back and forth between Roy and Mia as a tale of infidelity, anxiety, depression, drug use and murder unfolds in roughly 500 pages.

The book opens with  a couple of detectives visiting their home for asking some questions to Roy related  to the disappearance of a girl names Emily.

 Roy and Mia are a happily married couple who have been together for more than a decade. Roy works as a freelance travel writer and Mia works on the marketing team with a fashion house. They go to Jaisalmer for Mia's elder sister's wedding where Roy is also working to finish a video shoot with Mia's ex boyfriend George and his assistant Emily. Mia invites Emily to stay on for her sister's wedding after the shoot finishes. Sometime after that Roy and Emily share a kiss. With the wedding rituals the author establishes Mia's strong faith in the institution of marriage and how the concept of being together for eternity is precious to her. We are also told that Mia has some anxiety issues and seeing a therapist but hasn't told Roy about it. As the wedding wraps up Mia overhears an argument between her mother and her father's brother regarding selling of a house where Mia had once lived with her family. She gets very upset that her mother is trying to sell that house and in snatches we get the history of Mia's family and how her father was killed in a road accident as he was heading home with a birthday present for Mia. It also become apparent that Mia somewhere holds herself responsible for his death.

Soon after the questioning by the police Roy confesses to Mia about his affair with Emily.  As Mia's world comes crashing down there starts to brew trouble at her work front and she ends up losing her job as well. When she overhears Roy confessing to police his involvement with another Celia Brown everything comes crashing down for Mia and she kicks Roy out of the house. Roy begins to understand that the is the prime suspect in the murder investigation and calls his estranged parents for help. Mia spirals down and takes to drugs. In the months after her sister's wedding and since hearing her mother's plans to sell their house, she has stopped speaking to her mother but comes to know that she is dying of cancer. George takes Mia to his home and tries to boost her confidence.

While all this is happening on Mia's end we get a glimpse into Roy's teenage years and how he was violent as a young boy, having killed a dog and being involved in a young girl's murder in Delhi. Mia, has in the meanwhile come to find some clues that begin to clear the haze surrounding the events the past. She goes searching for some answers and in the end, is able to also find out about the missing girl Emily.

I found this book to be more than just a murder mystery. This book is as much about domestic violence and predation as it is a crime thriller. I commend the author of taking up these two topics to speak about them through her characters another narratives without ever sounding Ms Know-It-All or even condescending. The novel is also a narrative on fighting your inner monsters and finding strength to be better than yesterday .

I think this is a very cleverly written book which does more than just give you the thrills. It makes you think, it inspires you in some way to stand up for yourself in the face of manipulation and abuse. Mia's story and her evolution in this book is indeed a delight to read and I never found becoming dull, repetitive for tiring.

I highly recommend this though at 500 pages you might be worried about its length but let me reassure you that the book, with its short chapters, is a breeze.