Erica's Reviews > The Blue Bar

I cataloged the audiobook and thought it sounded interesting, a fun little police procedural in Mumbai. It turned out to be much darker but also flashier than I'd expected and I really enjoyed it.

The story is told from three main points of view: A police inspector whose sister died when he was an impressionable age, a bar girl, and a serial killer. The serial killer's assistant/butler/caretaker offers his thoughts here and there, as well. The inspector and the serial killer are both connected to the bar girl and each person knows information the others don't, giving the reader insights the characters don't have, a fun and frustrating experience in equal measure.

The background violence is so loud in this one but never specifically examined. Human trafficking, gang violence, abuse of women and children with the fault being placed on the victims, corrupt authorities, and Bollywood all run in the background but the focal points are Detective Arnav's regret over losing both his sister and then, later, the bar girl he loved 14 years ago, and how that informs his need to solve these cold cases of headless/handsless/feetsless women who have been unearthed; how hurt people hurt people in really messed up ways; and the things people will do to take care of and protect those whom they love. This all takes place in the week leading up to Diwali, a festival of light that banishes evil and darkness.

Speaking of Bollywood, the action scenes throughout the book definitely tip the hat to the genre. They're cinematic and over-the-top, full of sacrifice and blood and impossibly choreographed moves. I was delighted. There are even lightly tongue-in-cheek references to a buddy cop movie series that I recognized but kept replacing with the Dhoom series in my head because those are the favorite Bollywood cop movies in my household.

The characters, with one exception, which other reviews have pointed out, are flawed but sympathetic to varying degrees, all interesting, and I was never put out to have to spend time in any of their heads. I particularly enjoyed thinking about Det. Arnav, who is framed as the hero but what does it say about him that his obsession with saving women gets in the way of a healthy relationship with a woman who doesn't need saving because she's strong and capable all on her own?
But what does it say about me that (view spoiler)[ I was so relieved when his sister did not die at the hands of her family and similarly relieved to find Tara hadn't been murdered? I'm just as bad, expecting the worst for these women and being overjoyed when proven wrong. (hide spoiler)]I have no business judging Arnav's need to save the women he feels need saving.

Sneha Mathan does a wonderful job narrating the audiobook. I'm glad I listened to this one.