Death Comes to Matheran

MY THOUGHTS

There are many things characteristic of a Shabnam Minwalla YA book.
1. A mad scramble to see who gets to read it first. I lucked out this time, because the kids had their exams.
2. Blocking off a chunk of time so you can finish the hefty tome. Not unlike people blocking 6 hours of their day to watch Dhurandhar 2.
3. A long look and think about your own life because you have just finished reading a story that could very well happen to you.

Seventeen-year-old Tara Jhaveri’s world is collapsing faster than she can pick up the pieces. Tara and her brother, Sameer, are trying to get through life while dealing with the mysterious death of their father eleven years ago, while he was on a couples trip with friends to Matheran. Their mother, Pramila, is unable to remember anything from that time period and has created a life far removed from her past. Now, Tara, who was the life of her South Bombay group of friends, is suddenly cast out. On an upcoming trip to Mumbai, primarily to meet with doctors and lawyers, she is determined to unravel clues and uncover the truth about how her father died.

At close to 500 pages, Death Comes to Matheran is filled with characters and plot twists. I found myself going back a few times to read the page where all the characters are introduced. I love Minwalla’s books primarily because all her characters feel like you know them from somewhere, and her books are eerily scary, because it could happen to you. In Saira Zariwalla is Afraid, you could be picking up a SIM card that belonged to someone who has been murdered. Or in The Body in the Swimming Pool, when a beloved elderly neighbour is found dead in the society swimming pool. Similarly, in Death Comes to Matheran, a group of friends who live in the same society complex, whose children are all growing up together, decide to take a couple’s only weekend break to Matheran, where one member, Rakesh Jhaveri and his driver, Nandu Bhansode, fall to their deaths from a slippery hillside. As with any group of friends, there are minor tensions, and Tara and Sameer are determined to piece together the clues and memories.

As a Young Adult novel, Minwalla knows how easy it is for its target audience to be distracted by gadgets. She uses a clever mix of WhatsApp messages, letters, and Google Doc entries to create a modern epistolary style that feels immediate, immersive, and dynamic. In her earlier book, Zen, she used a mix of song titles, quotes, and lines from poetry at the start of every chapter. She reeled in the audience by creating a Spotify playlist, with songs to accompany each chapter! I find myself eagerly awaiting to see what she will include in her next novel!

The focus and emphasis on memory are played with beautifully in this story. Through the characters, we see how easy it is to manipulate someone’s memory, how just out of reach a memory can sometimes seem, and how effortlessly some people can cloud a clear memory. We also see the dynamics of a close group of friends at play, and how small misunderstandings and miscommunications can affect human relationships. I enjoyed how Minwalla made us look at the group dynamics of two different generations — the parents and their children.

There are chills and thrills aplenty, so be prepared to read this book with your trusted blanket close to you. As always, Mumbai, and specifically the monsoons, play a big role in the book. As a Mumbaikar, you will understand (and visualise!) the narrow gallis of Lalbaug against the opulence of Altamount Road and the helplessness Tara feels when she waits patiently for her mom, who goes missing during the crazy downpour.

Death Comes to Matheran is a murder mystery that is intelligent, relatable, and immersive. This is the kind of book you will want to read on a beach vacay or even curled up with a blanket up in the mountains. The best part, you will read this book, and make sure everyone in your social circle reads it too. After all, why get spooked alone, when you can spook everyone around you too!